The healthcare industry was among the first to adopt WiFi, and as the quality of wireless transmission improves and the security of such transmissions bolstered, hospitals are beginning to increase their reliance on WLANs for an ever greater number of services and missions. Walcheren Hospital in Vlissingen, the Netherlands, has 350 beds and 1,300 employees. The hospital has just deployed an enterprise-grade WLAN from trapeze Networks in its cardiology department and pediatrics wards.

The kids in the pediatrics section use donated laptops and the WLAN to access the Internet, exchange emails, and play video games--activities which help them cope with the drudgery and discomfort of a hospital stay. In the cardiac units, however, the WLAN is used not only for accessing patients' records, allowing the doctors to educate themselves about a patient's medical history as they stand next to the patient's bed, but also for real time reading of electrocardiogram (ECG): Doctors can now have digital ECG images captured from the patient's bedside and study these images and test results from anywhere in the hospital.

The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) staff at Walcheren Hospital said that wireless access offered substantial benefits over a wired network: They cited flexibility, simpler management, strong security, and lower operating costs as advantages. Walcheren Hospital initially deployed 15 Trapeze Mobility Point MP-372 APs, two Trapeze Mobility Exchange MX-400 switches, and the Trapeze MXR-2 switch. The hospital uses the Trapeze RingMaster WLAN lifecycle management tool suite for centralized planning, configuration, management, monitoring and performance optimization. The ICT staff is already planning to extend the Trapeze WLAN throughout the remainder of the hospital.

For more on the Walcheren WLAN deployment
- take a look at this Trapeze press release

PLUS: Nurses at the Hancock Regional Hospital in Greenfield, IN will soon be using VoWiFi phones as part of the hospital's campaign to increase nurse's mobility and reduce network costs. Report