Healthcare professionals are constantly on the move, and they want information to follow them wherever they go. No small feat for vendors who must clear the path of obstacles like parochial domains, patient privacy rules, hardware limitations and network protocols.
Yet technology is finding ways to bridge these productivity gaps, and nowhere is this more visible than with desktop virtualization, says Aly Orady, chief technology officer for Menlo Park, Calif.-based Pano Logic. Ironically, the new concept relies on an old model – a central server that controls all desktop units.
“We’re taking the data off the desktop and putting it into the server,” he said. “Windows runs in the data center. This doesn’t mean going back to a mainframe; it’s a cluster of servers in a central location.”
Running off Windows XP, the Pano Logic system creates a “virtual infrastructure” that allows users to run their specific version from any PC in the facility. A translator allows the mouse to communicate with the data center.
“Everything is a conduit to the data center,” Orady said. “PCs become monitors, which saves money because you don’t spend on upgrading or replacing a PC every five years. And because it only uses a fraction of power that a PC uses, there is tremendous savings in electricity costs.”
The format is also very secure because no data is stored outside the data center, he said.
“We can’t replace all the PCs in corporate America, but this makes sense in environments where users are roaming around and desktops are shared by a number of users,” Orady said.
Enabling mobility
Desktop administration is a demanding job in one building, let alone a network of facilities spread across northern Indiana. That’s why Joe Van Overberghe, IT director for the Bowen Center for Human Services, had to find a way to synchronize the network of 300 computers and 500 users at 25 inpatient and outpatient mental health facilities.
“In our environment one of the biggest challenges is users who are relatively mobile in the sense of moving from one office to another,” he said. “We needed to manage that environment so that people were connected to the right resources at the proper times and didn’t have to worry about moving, having only one server or one printer.”
Van Overberghe solved the problem with Boca Raton, Fla.-based ScriptLogic’s Desktop Authority log-on scripting tool, which configures each machine specifically for the user. The system identifies the location and resources each user needs, he said, thus eliminating conflicts and confusion.
“We always had log-in scripts, but it was difficult to manage with different permutations of possible options that people needed,” he said. “With this product we can drill down and select only those people that need a specific setting at a particular time.”
Privilege concerns
Another challenge in network management is security concerns over local administrator rights, said Scott McCarley, director for Portsmouth, N.H.-based BeyondTrust.
“Administrator rights can be exploited by malware and malicious users to gain unauthorized access to data, which is an enormous concern for desktops that have access to patient information,” he said. “Additionally, administrator rights can be used to alter a standard desktop image, change security settings or install unauthorized software. Most malware and spyware requires administrator rights in order to install.”
Healthcare organizations have had difficulty adopting “least privilege” protections in Windows environments, McCarley said, because users frequently need to run custom, in-house and third-party applications that require local administrator privileges.
BeyondTrust’s Privilege Manager solves this dilemma by allowing network administrators to attach permission levels to Windows applications and processes, McCarley said.
“This enables a ‘least privilege’ environment in which end-users run all authorized applications, processes and ActiveX controls without administrator rights,” he said. “Companies can create rules in group policy that give them the flexibility to define what a standard user should be able to do with administrative privileges, allowing them to discretely control when administrative privileges can be used by different groups of users.”
Phasing out tablets?
Portable computers are undergoing a metamorphosis of sorts as the tablet or slate format – once a stalwart in healthcare – gradually gets phased out and replaced by laptops and convertibles. Paul Moore, senior director of mobile product management for Fujitsu America in Sunnyvale, Calif., says the transition is prompted by consumer demand.
“Our customers want to have a keyboard in case they need it and slate sales have been steadily declining,” he said. “They are moving toward convertibles. But we will continue to offer slates as long as people want them.”
When it comes to serving the needs of a mobile healthcare user base, Fujitsu has learned that “one size doesn’t fit all,” Moore said. While a PDA is highly portable, it doesn’t have a big enough screen to adequately read x-rays and images. The laptop, while sporting a large screen and keyboard, doesn’t have touch-screen capabilities. Because the convertible has a fold-out screen, keyboard and touch-screen function, Moore said some find it to be an ideal format.
“Within a hospital there are all types of specialties that require different functionality and portability,” he said. “We can’t service them all with one model – that would be selling the industry short.”
Serving "rugged" devices
Toting around laptops can be precarious for users, which is why Panasonic developed the Toughbook unit, said John Maschenic, associate director for Verizon Wireless in Basking Ridge, N.J.
“For the VNA, laptops are working tools in the field – they fall, they drop, they get banged around,” he said. “They have a higher need for mobility, a rugged platform with longevity.”
As a result, Verizon has developed a “ruggedized” platform that is embedded at the factory for the Toughbook T8 laptop as well as providing network authorization for other Toughbook and Hewlett-Packard models.
“The trend in healthcare is crossing the barrier between mobile and in-hospital devices using Verizon to replace the existing wi-fi infrastructure,” Maschenic said. “The attitude now is that there better be coverage just about everywhere.”
