How Do I Take My Paperless Office Cordless?

A doctor was interested in both a cordless and paperless practice. He wanted all devices to be battery-powered. In general, the office was to run on laptop devices which were used to access a wireless network.

It is essential, however, to consider the limits to a cordless practice.

One should certainly first understand that a 'wireless' network isn't truly completely wireless. Something must be plugged into another somewhere along the way. Also, a wireless system contains several layers of expense.

You will need to work with a consultant - someone with experience correctly installing a wireless network. An improperly-implemented system will consistently yield poor performance. At our practice, we chose to hire a wireless network engineer who was certified by Cisco. However, if you aren't successful in locating someone with these rare qualifications, you should strive to at least go with a consultant who specializes in wireless network installation.

A good consultant should use pricey equipment to map out radio frequencies in the building. This helps them determine locations to place antennas. Our consultant's team took a few days to spread antennas out on tall tripods, finally delivering a floor map which showed radio frequency overlay with a list of recommended antennae placements.

If you are planning to use cordless computers, you will have to use long-lasting batteries - keep a source of extras on hand. Unless you use a special dock to charge batteries, keep in mind that this can't be done on the laptops. Plan your clinics carefully, considering that the typical laptop battery holds a charge for about three hours.

It's important for your to have a clear understanding of what's in your building. Is there lead in the walls? What about metal girders in the ceiling? These factors can either degrade the overall signal, or increase it through reflection.

What other wireless signals are broadcast in the area? Even cordless phones and microwave ovens can affect the signal, and most wireless networks operate on a frequency shared with a spectrum of devices in widespread use; the object here is to prevent interference.

You must keep a budget. One medical office decided to use a set of laptop computers which were connected to 24 inch monitors. This handy feature let both patient and doctor look at the monitor concurrently. However, the clear detractor from this solution is cost - usually regular laptops are the most cost-effective solution.

Are you interested in self-installing a wireless network at your medical practice? Some of the wireless network solutions on the retail market work fine for Internet access and e-mail, but may be insufficient for operating an electronic medical records system. There are a couple of reasons for this:

- Generally a consumer wireless access point uses a signal fixed at a strength far higher than that of a usual laptop wireless card. Although this may sound good at first, this means that a laptop computer may detect a signal that is more powerful than it is able to return - resulting in a broken network connection.

- If you need to use more than one wireless access point, there's a good chance that there will be a conflict. Even if just walking from one side of the room to the other, your session may be dropped, requiring another login after a possible information loss.

Regardless of your ultimate choice for implementing a wireless EMR system, be sure that the staff is on-board. If you decide to share expenses with an affiliated partner, it's usually a good idea to justify purchases and stay aware of costs. Try to refrain from indulging on all the latest bells and whistles; instead remain focused on serving your patients in a way which is more efficient overall.

By the way, do you want to learn more about implementing EMR in your own practice? Download my free report "Getting Through The EMR Maze."

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