About Pete Neumann Expertise I have experience as a residential telephone technician and especially enjoy troubleshooting, everthing from static, radio noise, what you can and can`t do about modem speeds, etc. I can also provide installation advice and help avoiding common pitfalls for the do-it-yourselfer.
Experience 2 1/2 years all phases installation and repair.
Expert: Pete Neumann Date: 9/24/2001 Subject: data communication
Question Dear Pete,
I came across a situation and would like to have brief explanation from you.A hospital is to automate its patient care system. Terminals are required in all administrative offices, nursing points, laboratories, doctors and nurses offices. The system will need to support on-line transactions for data entry and inquiry and report production. Rapid response from the system is important. which transmission media is best to choose as the access link and backbone? for example, twisted pairs, coaxial cable, fibre optics, radio wave, infrared etc.
Hope to hear from you soon. Thanks.
Answer This is really outside my expertise so please don't hold my lack of knowledge against me. I'll try to get you started in the right direction though.
I believe coax is now considered legacy and infrared requires line of sight, not realistic in a hospital so I'll dispense with these.
Radio *may* be an option, and if certain issues could be addressed, would probably be the most cost effective because it does not require installation into the structure of the hospital.
Radio Frequency or RF, has a set of unique challenges to its implementation which have been overcome satisfactorily for use in home networking and some commercial/office environments. The varied uses you are describing would complicate its implementation, not to mention it would probably require certification for use in a hospital environment. Because of the possibility of disrupting medical electronics, even cell phones and other personal electronics are generally off limits in many areas of a hospital. That doesn't even address whether that equipment might disrupt the network. You don't want the radiology dept. workstation offline every time you take an x-ray, for example. Range may be limited between floors or through reinforced concrete walls... So it may have some limitted usefulness in some depts, such as administration if physicaly separated or in a different building.
Twisted pair and fiber are the most common ways to connect a network, often forming different parts of the same network, and these are where I would focus my attention.
Because of the expense of the installation, I would reccomend several points for your consideration. If possible, investigate the practicability of installing conduit, or cable pathways where ever possible. This will make the inevitable later upgrades, additions, or modifications much more feasible and will save a lot of money in the long run.
Also, install the best wire and fiber possible with at least twice your expected capacity, if not more. A slight expenditure up front will pay off in spades when compared to the expense of later doing the work all over again when needs or technology change. Fiber capacity is mainly an issue of connecting Point A to point B. Once it is there, it will pretty much do what you need.
Fiber will be your backbone, connecting routers and servers in various depts which then serve the local workstations via twisted pair, probably CAT 6 or 7 at 100mhz or better. In some depts. an existing cat 3 network originally installed for voice lines can be used for 10baseT at 10mhz, which may save installation costs and serve a dept. with low bandwidth needs like admitting or records. The surgery suites and conference rooms should have a dedicated fiber service, for teleconferencing and remotely assisted surgeries.
If the system overhaul is to be comprehensive, you may wish to look into integrating the phone system as part of a new network, such as a "voice over IP" network. This may contribute to the cost effectiveness of the project and kill two birds with one stone.
If cost is an issue, much of the necessary equipment can be purchased used at cents on the dollar, since there is a glut of excess equipment on the market due to economic conditions, particularly in the technology area.
