FEATURE: BYOD
Patient care
goes digital
at Al Zahra
Hospital
After implementing Gigabit wireless network
using Aruba solutions, the next phase is to
enable digital access for patients themselves.
A
l Zahra Hospital Dubai has always strived to provide
the best possible environment for its patients and staff.
Technological advancement in the region meant that
Al Zahra Hospital Dubai had to provide modern high-speed
Wi-Fi connectivity for the patient care departments. The
requirements of the network upgrade were high availability,
speed, reliability and scalability; compliance with the highest
network security standards; simplified manageability,
administration and intuitiveness for the support team,
amongst others.
“We needed to upgrade to 802.11ac technology and
required a robust solution as it would be utilised not just by
all our patient care departments including patient wards,
laboratories, departments, and clinics, but also by patients
themselves,” explains Arjiel Guevarra, Network Manager at Al
Zahra Hospital and Clinic.
Guevarra and his team outlined the requirements for the new
solution. “From a technical perspective we needed high speed,
reliability, scalability, availability and compliance with the
highest network security standards. From a business perspective,
its total cost of ownership had to be reasonable and its service
level agreements, flexible enough for business operations. And
finally, from an IT user perspective, we prioritised manageability,
administration and intuitiveness for the support team.”
After evaluating solutions from vendors including Huawei and
Cisco, Al Zahra Hospital Dubai selected Aruba. The vendor stood
out from its user experience, product quality, local support, and
ability to meet business demands and expectations.
With the support of Aruba’s qualified local partner, Al Zahra
Hospital Dubai’s IT team carefully designed and deployed
the solution. This began with the installation of Aruba’s
2920 Series network back-bone switches to guarantee speed,
bandwidth and availability needed to support the wireless
infrastructure. Over 200 Aruba AP-205, AP-103 and AP-105
Access Points were installed across the hospital delivering
Wi-Fi coverage throughout the hospital premises. Two Aruba
mobility controllers were deployed to centralise management
of this extensive Access Point network.
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INTELLIGENTCIO
One of the major benefits has been allowing care-givers
to access patient information at the bedside.
“The entire implementation was completed in under two
weeks with no inconvenience to our patients. This really
speaks volumes for the ease of installation of Aruba’s
solutions,” stated Guevarra.
Overall, the benefits of the implementation generated for
Al Zahra Hospital Dubai, include presence of high-density
Gigabit Wi-Fi across the entire hospital, and a 50% increase
in staff productivity relating to information access and
enhanced patient experience as the platform has enabled
delivery of new services, amongst others.
Improvements in staff productivity were noticed following
the deployment. The solution saves half of the time staff
require to seek information from different departments by
making it available for them on the go. By connecting to
one of the 200+ wireless access points across the hospital,
both healthcare and administration staff can securely
access clinical or business related information as it becomes
available. Aruba’s Wi-Fi network can also be accessed with
ease by visitors within the hospital’s premises, a feature made
possible by the mobility controller.
One of the major benefits has been allowing care-givers to
access patient information at the bedside. It helps create a
good patient experience when the physician is discussing
a patient’s results with them on the spot. The stability and
availability of Aruba’s solutions brings added significance since
“Over 200 Aruba AP-
205, AP-103 and AP-
105 Access Points were
installed across the
hospital delivering Wi-Fi
coverage throughout the
hospital premises.”
www.intelligentcio.com