Carilion Clinic

Wireless Solution

Carilion Clinic

Background: For more than 100 years, the Carilion Health System has served southwest Virginia by assuring accessible, affordable, high quality healthcare that meets the community's needs. Now called Carilion Clinic, it is building a healthier future by applying the latest innovations, recruiting the brightest physicians and developing an integrated healthcare system that puts patients first and keeps mobile clinicians connected. However, IT leaders were learning that reactive deployments of discrete wireless LAN systems were not guaranteeing coverage for mission-and life-critical wireless devices and applications, which was impeding care and disrupting communication.

The Challenge: As part of the moving shift to mobility, Carilion estimates having 70 percent mobile devices in use within a few years. It was clear that the system's hospitals needed total wireless coverage, as opposed to select coverage areas. With the discrete wireless LAN systems in place, clinicians grew frustrated because they repeatedly had to log in and out of networks as they moved between floors, and they often missed pages due to wireless dead zones. Carilion administrators desired a solution that would eliminate these barriers and ensure total clinical mobility. However, to make mobility a value-generating asset, it needed a converged wireless solution that would guarantee coverage for all of its clinical tools and applications, everytime and everywhere.

Carilion searched for a vendor that possessed the extensive RF expertise needed to address the RF challenges presented by the hospitals' architectures and building materials, some of which are more than 100 years old. It also sought a vendor that:

• Demonstrated a successful track record of deploying their technology in healthcare organizations
• Understood the needs of a health system, clinicians and patients
• Had experience working in and maintaining sterile environments
• Could provide a scalable solution that would grow with Carilion's evolving technology needs

The Solution: After researching with Gartner, the world's leading information technology research and
advisory company, and evaluating various vendors, Carilion selected InnerWireless' Horizon™, a system that unifies virtually all wireless services onto a converged wireless solution that guarantees coverage. The administrators were impressed with Horizon's highly engineered design, which allowed for a non-invasive installation around the complex architectural challenges presented by the hospitals' various additions and renovations. The low maintenance and scalability of the infrastructure and InnerWireless' foresight and professionalism also were key factors for their selection. Horizon's layout was customized based on a comprehensive site survey that evaluated the RF challenges presented at each building. Within 12 months, Carilion deployed Horizon in three facilities totaling 2.3 million square feet. The first installation at the flagship, 875-bed Roanoke Memorial Hospital returned positive results, such as improved workflow from quicker and easier access to patient information and enhanced communication. Horizon was immediately deployed in the Carilion New River Valley Medical Center and the Carilion Roanoke Community Hospital to ensure that they also had coverage for their mission- and life-critical handheld devices, cellular phones, wireless IV pumps and fetal monitors, as well as wireless access to the main HIS and ambulatory systems.

"As our hospitals move toward total mobility, it is imperative that our wireless devices and applications have guaranteed wireless coverage, a key deliverable that InnerWireless has already provided in our flagship hospital," said Kendall White, senior director of technology services at Carilion Clinic. "The deployment of Horizon was a strategic investment that heightens the quality of care we provide with quicker, easier access to patient information, increased patient safety, enhanced communication and more efficient processes. The positive outcomes from InnerWireless' initial deployment led us to make the commitment to deploy its Horizon system in our other hospitals."

With guaranteed wireless coverage, Carilion's clinicians provide more consistent and patient-centered care. Laptops and tablet PCs give clinicians more time to spend at each patient's bedside with complete and unfettered access to patient information. Medication is now administered at the point-of-care via carts that house a prescription checking system, which helps reduce medication errors. Carilion also has agreements with Nextel and Verizon to integrate macro cells with Horizon to provide cellular services.

Carilion plans to replace 6,700 one-way pagers and is already utilizing more than 1,400 corporate cell phones to provide more immediate access to clinicians. This has improved workflow and reduced the number of communication devices that clinicians carry. They now move freely around the hospital without the fear of a dropped signal or disrupting the continuum of care.

Empowering Carilion's clinicians with wireless clinical tools and applications has eliminated barriers to productivity, enhanced communication, reduced medical errors and improved accuracy and timeliness of care. All these outcomes, in addition to providing laptops for patients to access the hospital's public Wi-Fi for e-mail use, have led to higher patient satisfaction. Carilion plans to add additional applications, including VoIP, telemetry and RFID for asset tracking within the next three to five years, all possible due to Horizon's scalability.

"Healthcare information technology has reached a point where wireless is no longer a commodity but a need for hospitals," said White. "With an infrastructure like Horizon in place, Carilion will continue to leverage the latest wireless tools and devices to provide excellent, high quality healthcare that meets the needs of the community."

Download the Carilion Success Story

RFID Solution

Download the Health Alliance Case Study in PDF format