First, Full 802.11ac Wave 2 Hospital Network in Canada Increases Patient Safety, Improves Staff Productivity, and Enables Future IoT and Wayfinding Use Cases
Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company (NYSE:HPE), today announced
that Scarborough and Rouge Hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, has
implemented a new Aruba gigabit wireless network to bring better
efficiencies to nurses and physicians in order to improve patient
outcomes. The new wireless network – which is the first complete Wave 2
hospital deployment in Canada – will also ensure that the hospital can
accommodate future use cases and applications including Internet of
Things (IoT) and indoor location services.
On December 1, 2016, The Scarborough Hospital’s Birchmount and General
sites merged with Rouge Valley Health System’s Centenary site to form
Scarborough and Rouge Hospital. The new organization has more than 5,000
staff, 1,000 physicians, and 1,000 volunteers. A complete Wave 2 network
is now available at the Birchmount and General sites, and the Centenary
site is currently upgrading its Aruba-based wireless network to a new
Wave 2 network.
Given the hospital’s growing requirements for mobility, the Information
Services team determined it was the right time to upgrade the network
infrastructure to meet both current and future needs. The hospital’s
goals include: improving nursing staff productivity by allowing mobile
workstations to be used at the bedside; increasing patient safety by
ensuring that information can be inputted quickly and accurately;
providing better patient and visitor experiences by delivering high
performance wireless access from any location in the hospital; and,
preparing for new use cases and future initiatives.
“With our previous wireless network, we encountered a number of
limitations, including its inability to deliver the speed required to
efficiently use newer mobile medical equipment, such as ultrasound
devices for sending images, IV pumps for infusion data, and clocks for
time updates,” said Gary Lam, Manager of Technical Services for
Scarborough and Rouge Hospital’s Birchmount and General sites.
“Furthermore, with the assumption that we’ll connect even more devices
in the future, and an expectation of our patients and physician groups
that they can use the latest laptops, smartphones, and tablets, we
needed to put in place a network that could handle the speed and density
to accommodate all of these.”
Working with partner, TELUS (TSX: T, NYSE: TU), Canada’s fastest-growing
national telecommunications company, the hospital issued an RFP and
conducted a competitive and comprehensive procurement process that
included site surveys and some internal Proof of Concept (POC) trials,
evaluating the existing infrastructure with the proposed Aruba solution.
With TELUS strategically designing the layout of the access point
locations, providing technical implementation, and delivering
professional and integration services, Scarborough and Rouge Hospital
implemented an Aruba Mobile-First Platform that consists of Aruba 320
Series 802.11ac Wave 2 access points, Aruba Mobility Controllers, and
AirWave Network Management. The hospital was already using the ClearPass
Policy Manager for authentication of devices onto their network. With
its new deployment, they are now considering using ClearPass for guest
wireless access and BYOD onboarding. In addition, Scarborough and Rouge
Hospital plans to deploy a full range of HPE core, top of rack, and edge
switching solutions in its General and Birchmount sites.
“Aruba stood out to us by offering a solution that was leading in terms
of technology,” Lam noted. “We also appreciated the integrated security
in the Aruba Mobility Controllers and Access Points, which saved us the
time and cost of purchasing and deploying additional layers.”
With the right foundation in place, Scarborough and Rouge Hospital can
now look to add applications that will further empower its staff and
improve patient satisfaction and outcomes. Some of the proposed
initiatives are wayfinding to allow staff, patients, and visitors to
navigate hospital facilities, patient kiosks, and asset tracking for
wheelchairs, infusion pumps, and other medical equipment. For the latter
applications, Lam said the Aruba APs with their built-in BLE beacons
were a huge plus for the hospital.
“When we undertook this network overhaul, we wanted to be sure that
whatever we deployed would not need to be ripped out and replaced in a
few years,” said Lam. “Basically, we needed to prepare for anything the
industry could throw at us for the next five years. Our Aruba network is
helping us ensure that we’re ready to meet that challenge.”
About Scarborough and Rouge Hospital
At Scarborough and Rouge Hospital (SRH), a quality patient experience
comes first. Affiliated with the University of Toronto, SRH consists of
three hospital sites (Birchmount, General, and Centenary) and five
satellite sites in Scarborough. SRH delivers a broad spectrum of health
services to one of the most diverse communities in Canada, including a
full-service Emergency Department at each site, advanced maternal and
neonatal care in state-of-the-art birthing centres, and specialized
paediatric services. SRH is home to a number of regional programs
serving the central east Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and beyond,
including nephrology, cardiac care, vascular surgery, and vision care,
and is recognized as a centre of excellence in orthopaedic surgery,
cancer care, and mental health.
About Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company
Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, is a leading provider of
next-generation networking solutions for enterprises of all sizes
worldwide. The company delivers IT solutions that empower organizations
to serve the latest generation of mobile-savvy users who rely on
cloud-based business apps for every aspect of their work and personal
lives.
To learn more, visit Aruba at http://www.arubanetworks.com.
For real-time news updates follow Aruba on Twitter and Facebook,
and for the latest technical discussions on mobility and Aruba products
visit Airheads Social at http://community.arubanetworks.com.
Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company
Pavel Radda, +1-408-419-0294
pavel.radda@hpe.com
or
Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company
Lori Hultin, +1-818-879-4651
lori.hultin@hpe.com
or
Scarborough and Rouge Hospital
Derek Rowland, 416-438-2911, ext. 8090
Corporate Communications
drowland@tsh.to