A secure network that will provide wireless (WiFi) access to the Internet and to various hospital network medical applications was installed throughout SHC in late December.

Andrew Walker of SHC IT said the “go live” date for the network, marked by antennae visible on the ceiling throughout the institution, is expected in February.

Medical Staff President Kent Garman, who has followed the project closely, said the hospital had proceeded slowly with WiFi because of security concerns. However, a wireless network is important now because of the phase-in starting early this year of nursing documentation. This has created the need to review and enter patient data at the bedside using wireless, mobile COWs (Computers on Wheels). Wireless capability will also be a key part of the Epic Electronic Medical Records (EMR) package that will be phased in over the next few years.

Garman noted that the hospital network will be available to physicians and other staff who have passwords and appropriate security features on their computers.

Meanwhile, patients and families will soon have access to the Internet at the bedside - an increasingly common hospital amenity nationally - through the “Starlight Project’ or the ‘GetWell Project”. A completion date was not available for the patient initiative, said Garman.

All areas of the Hospital, including the ICU’s and the OR, will be able to use the WiFi network access. (The wireless radio signals don’t interfere with medical devices, according to most current studies.)

Physicians can log on to the hospital wireless network with a Stanford University SUNET ID, to which all faculty and trainees have access, or through the Hospital CORP domain logon. Community physicians either already have or will also be able to get a network logon access ID. (The authentication method will use the highly secure EAP-FAST standard to deter hacker access.)

Access will be tiered. For example, all users can pull up the Internet, including e-mail, but certain restrictions, such as no illegal music downloads, will be enforced within the hospital. Some WiFi users will also be granted - as they were previously on the wired network - access to all clinical applications, such as Carecast, lab data, and imaging.

The system will be compatible with the wireless transmission standards (802.11 a,b, and g) commonly packaged with most off-the-shelf laptops, said Walker.

However, Garman noted that some users may need to upgrade their laptop’s wireless modems or replace an older computer to be compatible with the wireless network’s security standards. The system uses the same robust encryption protocol (AES or Advanced Encryption Standard) used by the U.S. government for top secret transmissions. The older encryption standards used by most modern wireless routers and modems (WEP or WPA) were judged insufficiently secure for sensitive medical information, Walker explained.

Wireless access in the hospital isn’t completely new, and the Stanford campus has been wired for several years. Garman noted that limited wireless access has been available in the hospital via “rogue” wireless access points (WAPs) previously installed by various departments. Lacking appropriate security safeguards, these were tolerated by the hospital and intended primarily to give users access to the Internet, not to sensitive patient information.

The wireless network is VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) capable, which when fully implemented will allow callers to use the Internet for phone calls. However, Garman said the benefit of VOIP at SHC is unclear, since the Hospital has lifted restrictions on the use of cell phones in all areas except intensively monitored areas such as ICU’s.

“It would appear that Stanford Hospital is coming into the modern world with this new wireless network capability,” said Garman. “Most of us would like to see even more computer capabilities, including seamless and easy access to confidential patient information from our own home or office computers, which is possible but difficult to do now.

“It would also be nice to have real-time information on patient tracking and progress of surgical procedures and scheduling from any computer — we still write the daily surgical schedule by marker pen on a marker board in the OR. Our ability to access imaging information in the OR is still sub-optimal with low-resolution screens and awkward log-on and access methods, according to complaints from users,” Garman said.

But these concerns may be short term.

“Many of these features, notably seamless access to the EMR/patient level information from home will be rolled out in the next few years with the coming Epic electronic medical records (EMR) implementation,” said Kevin Tabb, chief quality and medical information officer.