Artificial Intelligence (AI) and wearable devices are playing an ever-larger and more vital role in the future of healthcare. With Australia’s ageing population, rising incidence of chronic illnesses, and increasing healthcare expenditure, AI’s capacity to improve diagnostic accuracy, personalise treatment plans, and streamline care delivery is proving essential. Meanwhile, wearables are transforming how we capture real‐time data on patients, detect early warning signs, and encourage healthier behaviours.
Optimise Communications & Mobile Technologies
Forward-thinking healthcare organisations are now investing heavily in optimising their communication technologies and mobile assets so they can deliver better patient care today, and build resilience for the future. Mobile devices and modern communication tools are being used to improve coordination among practitioners, between staff and patients, and across dispersed care settings.
Remote patient monitoring, mobile-enabled clinical decision support, telehealth, all of these rely on having secure, reliable mobile infrastructure. Care providers can access vital patient data at the point-of-care, wherever that may be (clinic, patient’s home, or in transit).
However, as devices proliferate, so do risks: data breaches, loss or theft of devices, insecure networks, misuse of file-sharing, and more. Ensuring that mobile devices handling confidential patient information are safeguarded is an imperative.
Mobile device management becomes a must
As communication and mobile technology assume greater importance in delivering healthcare, managing those devices well becomes critical. Best practice begins with an organisation-wide risk assessment, to identify threats associated with device loss, unauthorised access, insecure network connections, and more. From there, a risk management plan should define acceptable risk levels and mitigation strategies.
A robust Mobile Device Management (MDM) strategy is central. With the right tools, IT teams can:
- track, locate and monitor device fleets in real time
- remotely install necessary applications
- transfer files securely
- remotely lock or wipe devices if lost or stolen
These measures help ensure staff can access permitted networks and apps securely so they can focus on care, confident that patient privacy is preserved.
Healthe Care
As a case in point, Healthe Care, one of Australia’s largest corporate private hospital operators and one of the country’s largest privately-owned healthcare organisations worked with imei on mobile device management initiatives to streamline the management of its mobile device fleet.
Northern Sydney Local Health District
Likewise, Northern Sydney Local Health District implemented our Lifecycle and Connect solutions to improve mobile user support times and gain better visibility across its mobile device fleet.
Hunter New England Health
Of course, while optimising mobile device management is essential for any modern healthcare provider, your communication technology backbone is equally critical. We helped Hunter New England Health realise significant cost savings by modernising their communications technologies while improving Wi-Fi coverage across.
Healius
In addition, we helped Healius move to an all-in-one cloud communications solution, minimising their on-site technology footprint, that simplifies its technology landscape and eliminated the need to manage multiple technologies.
Delivering the Best Patient Care Going Forward
Patients increasingly expect health services to be as accessible, responsive and seamless as consumer-digital experiences (e.g. online shopping, streaming, etc.). To meet those expectations, healthcare organisations need to:
- Empower and train staff to use mobile tools and AI safely
- Invest in secure, reliable network and cloud infrastructure
- Adopt robust MDM and remote-device security policies
- Monitor regulatory developments (e.g. Australia’s reviews of AI in healthcare) to ensure compliance
- Use real-time data (via wearables, IoT) to detect issues earlier, personalise care, and support preventative health
Reduce the cost of managing your mobile endpoint fleet
Optimising mobile and communication technologies while leveraging AI and wearables is no longer optional, it’s becoming essential for delivering healthcare that is high-quality, cost-effective, and aligned with patient expectations.
If you’re managing a fleet of mobile endpoints (phones, tablets, other devices), secure and intelligent management of those assets frees up time and resources, letting clinical staff focus where they add the most value: patient care.
>Contact us to find out more.
Original Post: 27 September 2018
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