Approximately 84% of US healthcare facilities participating in the 17th Annual Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society Leadership Survey currently use wireless information systems. Hospira, Inc, has announced that its infusion therapy devices are interoperable, or compatible, with the InnerWireless Medical-Grade Wireless Utility, an in-building wireless system designed to guarantee wireless coverage inside hospitals and other large buildings.
When a clinician prescribes medicine administered through an infusion therapy pump, the InnerWireless system enables the infusion device to link to and transmit patient data to the hospital's clinical information system, decreasing the potential for interruption or an unreliable or weak network signal. With InnerWireless, from virtually any treatment location in the hospital, Hospira's infusion therapy pumps and safety software can communicate with the wireless network to keep the devices in contact with clinicians, allowing real-time communication of patient data. Once the pump links to the clinical information system, the two systems can work together and in conjunction with other technologies to verify the "five rights" of medication administration-right drug, right patient, right dose, right time, and right route of administration-helping to decrease the chances of a medication error.
Hospitals are increasingly implementing integrated information technology tools, such as electronic medical records, medication management devices and safety software, and bar code administration systems. For these tools to improve safety and operational efficiency, clinicians must be able to depend on reliable, secure, and seamless data transmission.
Hospira's MedNet safety software can communicate over a hospital's wireless network with modules in Hospira infusion devices, such as Plum A+ (general infusion), Plum A+3 (triple channel), and LifeCare PCA (patient-controlled analgesia) medication management systems. The InnerWireless Medical-Grade Wireless Utility is a full-coverage infrastructure that helps guarantee wireless coverage throughout the hospital, linking key clinical data.
Rather than repeatedly installing and disrupting patient care areas and maintaining multiple systems, hospitals use the InnerWireless system to distribute several wireless services, including the following: clinical systems that store patient information, treatment protocols, and patient data from monitoring and medication administration devices; computerized physician order entry; paging; and nurse-call systems. The InnerWireless Medical-Grade Wireless Utility also distributes two-way radio for security and maintenance and wireless hotspots and telephone access for patients, visitors, and staff.
Today, more than 25 leading healthcare institutions, such as Children's Memorial Hospital of Chicago, The University of Chicago Hospitals and Health System's Bernard A. Mitchell Hospital and Comer Children's Hospital, and the National Institutes of Health's Mark O. Hatfield Clinical Research Center, use InnerWireless' Medical-Grade Wireless Utility to create a 21st century wireless ecosystem in their facilities.
InnerWireless, Inc, deploys its Medical-Grade Wireless Utility in hospitals and healthcare-related facilities to support a full range of wireless services and applications inside buildings with sizes up to 10 million square feet to accommodate wireless systems essential for interpersonal communications, clinical operations, and building operations. For more information on InnerWireless, visit http://www.InnerWireless.com.
Hospira, Inc, is a global specialty pharmaceutical and medication delivery company with one of the industry's broadest lines of generic acute care injectables, which help address the high cost of proprietary pharmaceuticals and integrated solutions for medication management and infusion therapy. For more information, visit http://www.hospira.com.