Infrastructure

Kingston General implements wireless solutions

KINGSTON, Ont. – Kingston General Hospital (KGH) and Bell Canada have announced the launch of a fully integrated wireless communications solution within the teaching hospital, including wireless access to medical records and a safety alerting system. With wireless access, KGH is now equipped to enhance patient safety and staff productivity while also building upon the care experience for patients and their visitors.

“Wireless communication access has improved the quality of care by allowing us to do what we do best – focusing more time with our patients at the bedside,” said Joe de Mora (pictured at left), President and Chief Executive Officer, KGH. “Bell’s solution will not only support our staff in ensuring they provide patients with the safest care possible, but will improve the overall patient experience.”

The integrated wireless infrastructure provides benefits for both patients and staff through the following features:

• KGH is the first teaching hospital in Canada to integrate wireless applications with a point-of-care computer that accommodates intravenous infusion, patient monitoring and clinical best practice guidelines in a single platform through an advanced infusion pump system. This means additional support is available to ensure patient safety. These new infusion pumps provide the care team with the most up-to-date drug information through the wireless network while also communicating with other devices to alert caregivers when a problem arises;

• A new wireless phone system has been implemented throughout the patient care areas. Previously, this technology was limited to specific areas such as the intensive care unit, paediatrics, operating rooms and emergency department. Now, an anaesthesiologist could receive a wireless call while moving a patient from the recovery room to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Eventually, this system could be integrated with the nurse call system to turn wireless telephones into portable nurse call terminals. When a patient pushes a nurse call button, a text message could be sent directly to the wireless telephone, allowing the caregiver to respond to the patient from anywhere in the facility;

• A secure wireless medical record system will allow clinicians to easily access patient data from the bedside and enable patient care providers to capture and update patient records from anywhere. This type of flexibility increases the productivity of staff and enhances the level of patient care; and,

• Public wireless data access through the KGH wireless network will offer staff, patients and visitor access to the public Internet. Using the public Wi-Fi access, individuals with Wi-Fi-enabled laptops or PDAs are now able to easily access the Internet over a high-speed wireless connection to surf the net, check e-mail, access corporate networks and generally stay connected to their world during their visit to the hospital. This Wi-Fi access is provided through the DataValet service implemented in collaboration with TravelNet Technologies.

“Collaboration of systems, suppliers and partners through integrated systems lets healthcare providers focus on delivery,” said Gary Cameron, Vice President, Enterprise Accounts, Bell Canada. “As a leading provider of Information Communications and Technology (ICT) solutions, this implementation at KGH is another example of how Bell is transforming healthcare through the innovative application of technology.”

The entire wireless infrastructure was designed and implemented by Bell Canada and the work was completed in collaboration with KGH staff. Planning, project management and knowledge transfer were key success factors that were achieved.

“We specialize in developing core technologies that facilitate the delivery and management of customized, broadband services to mobile users in a range of industries,” said Philippe Labrosse, VP of Technology, TravelNet Technologies. “The Wi-Fi service at KGH is an example of how TravelNet Technologies is able to offer healthcare providers a range of readily accessible and manageable Web-based applications and productivity tools for physician, patient and visitor services.”

About Kingston General Hospital
Affiliated with Queen’s University, Kingston General Hospital is a 456-bed teaching hospital that serves more than 500,000 people in southeastern Ontario and is the community hospital for the Kingston area. KGH provides an array of specialized acute and ambulatory clinical services including trauma, cardiac, stroke, pediatric, perinatal, end stage renal and stem cell transplants. Home to the Cancer Centre of Southeastern Ontario, KGH is dedicated to compassionate, high quality healthcare in a dynamic academic research environment. It features a robust research program and provides hands-on skill training for 1,600 health care students annually. For more information, visit the web site at http://www.kgh.kari.net.

About Bell Canada
Bell Canada, Canada’s national leader in communications, provides connectivity to residential and business customers through wired and wireless voice and data communications, local and long distance phone services, high speed and wireless Internet access, IP-broadband services, e-business solutions and satellite television services. Bell Canada is wholly owned by BCE Inc. For more information, please visit www.bell.ca.

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