Rugged Tech Talk

Hospitals are ecosystems. The flow of information is lifeblood, and the devices that capture, display, store, analyze and transmit the data are the organs. Using the best possible devices in healthcare settings means that data is properly handled, utilized, and shared, providing better outcomes for patients and streamlined workflow processes for personnel.

Improved Workflows

The workflow starts with the patient. The data they provide is crucial to proper treatment. This data must be captured as swiftly, completely, and accurately as possible. Having medical cart computers ensures information can be entered and checked with the patient in real time, while ascertaining vital data such as medical history and drug interactions.

While patient-provided data isnt always accurate, it often contains the key to proper diagnosis and treatment and can help avoid errors leading to patient endangerment form allergic reactions, drug interactions, and more. Patient side computing also allows for authorized personnel and family members to share in completing histories and other key data acquisition, enhancing rapid and appropriate care via approved treatment plans.

Digital Strategy

Digital strategies allow doctors to streamline and reengineer the process to create visual, automated services that can be shared with patients and other doctors for a clear picture and better comprehension, building patient trust for their medical professionals.

• Electronic Health Records (EHRs) are a perfect example, already being implemented across the country to track patient health data and support medical decisions. Digital medical imaging systems sync with records systems making it easy to compare images and update files, share information, and transfer records.
• Mobile health (mHealth) initiatives are also on the rise, enabling physicians and patients to use mobile devices to improve care.
• Telemedicine is another byproduct of digital health care, providing broader access regardless of location, leading to improved care in rural areas.
• Real-time location systems (RTLS) can locate equipment, patients and staff.

Process Duplication

Another aspect of medical automation is how it can reduce process duplication and the errors that can arise due to this issue. Standardizing procedures, breaking them down into individual components, digitizing data, connecting various types of records, and analyzing data leads to complete integration of disparate elements.

Advanced Technology

Better tech means better outcomes. Mobile, cloud and new communication technologies working together to capture data from EHRs, wearables, clinical information systems, mobile devices and more can streamline workflows and enable providers to spend more time with patients and less time on non-patient side care.

One of the top issues with hardware and software is obsolescence. This major problem affects any company at any level, whether they are using PCs, smartphones, laptops, or tablets.

A device that can outlast more than a few years of upgrades and advances can cut down on CAPEX and induce considerable savings since the need to constantly replace devices is removed. This is particularly helpful for industries in which large scale deployment of devices is standard, such as in the industrial, healthcare, government, and military verticals.

Next to the actual physical cost, productivity suffers when compatibility becomes an issue. The TCO is based not just on the dollars spent over a five or ten-year span, but on losses incurred at the productivity level, since time is money.

Cost is one thing, value another. Commercial products off the shelf, as in consumer grade tablets, can be attractive at first glance thanks to their low price tag. However, if they become obsolete or crippled in less than two years, a rugged tablet that can last for five or more is a much better deal when it comes to ROI.

Using a product that will have support in the coming years, is upgraded dependent on your time schedule and parameters, and which also is provided with a durability to resist physical damage is a sensible way to look at device deployment.

Consumer grade tablets can crack, overheat, experience trouble with dust, experience static shocks, and more. A rugged tablet is designed to prevent or resist damage, and will last longer even in the harshest environments including many a consumer grade tablet would never work in at all.

Custom solutions are forward thinking with the focus split on the here and now and the future. Not only does the device need to have backward compatibility, it needs to survive the forward movement of technology. Rugged tablet designers can anticipate needs and create unique builds that often foreshadow the next wave of technology.

The military and government sectors are often the hardest hit by failure to maintain support for older consumer systems because they are not a prime market. Finding vendors who can design, maintain, support, and enhance key functionality will result in devices that are smarter, more secure, better equipped, and easier to use while delivering years of usefulness.

Selecting customized, rugged tablets opens up new doors for mobility, while saving money in the years to come as the need to replace devices is sharply decreased. Custom rugged tablets are the smart choice for those with a need for long term ROI.

The use of tablet technology is growing rapidly, specifically in information sensitive verticals such as industry and government. Custom application software, rugged tablet design, and creative hardware additions make the tablet one of the most favored devices for mobile workers but how does security factor in?

Military and Government

In the government sector as well as the military, security is even more crucial than in commercial industry verticals. Consumer-grade tablets come with accessible operating systems and when reset to factory default configuration, can be easily reused or sold, making the issue of potential theft a serious concern when planning on tablet deployment.

Built to Last

The tendency of consumer grade tablets to require constant updating from outside sources, and their obsolescence over time mean high replacement costs to say nothing of tablets damaged by severe work environments. Rugged tablets are designed to last with durability that stands up to most challenges in the field, including extended temperatures, high humidity, vibration, impact, drop, liquid contact, sand/dust, and more.

Security

Security at multiple levels inside military and government organizations is also simplified with rugged tablets, as access card readability allows users to access only the information they are cleared to see. Closed networks allow for safe, secure data transmission and communication. Tablets designed to work only within a secure network are a better choice than consumer grade since they cant be reconfigured to default and treated as new.

Consumer Repackaging Not Sufficient

Consumer grade tablets are not sufficient for use in the field for many reasons, no matter how the actual physical tablet is repackaged for a more rugged look. Issues include the following:

• Insufficient ruggedness that addresses only drop and impact scenarios

• Feature mismatch, and inability to mesh fully with other devices and protocols

• Office to field failure, with lack of sunlight reading or water resistance

• Short life cycles, as upgrades and changing tech cause obsolescence

• Low levels of security that even use in a closed network may not resolve

Rugged tablets allow for device customization at the hardware, operating system, and application levels. Custom hardware and software results in a mobile device that takes the hard knocks and continues to perform with stellar marks for mobility and security.

A constant priority across private and public sectors is productivity. The government vertical is one of the most important venues for modern computing infrastructures, budding technological advances, and seamless communication.

Security

Security is a top selling point for mobile wireless devices, and rugged tablets can be specifically designed to meet this need. Government information can be safely transmitted across secure wireless and cellular broadband networks, bridging the divide between indoor and outdoor tasks. Mobile devices within a secure network allow personnel to quickly relay information between administrators and those in the field.

Real Time Sharing

Instant communication is a broad benefit. A rugged tablet utilized in this way allows workers to share information in real time, cutting down on manual data transmission, and promoting the reception of critical data no matter the location or time. Analysis can also be performed in the closed system, preventing any breaches, and IT specialists can use high levels of encryption that protect data at the application level or the data layer.

Added Functionality

A CAC reader allows for secure data access restricted by level of security, so personnel can use the same tablet for specific data access with inbuilt security. Other data capture capabilities, such as barcode scanners, magnetic stripe readers (MSR), cameras, and radio frequency identification (RFID) mean streamlined operations using one device instead of several.

Durability

The rugged tablet also has the ability to withstand extreme environments, whether the harsh conditions result from weather, dust, grime, cold, or heat. Tablets can be used in warehouses, at docks, for field surveys, for inventory matching, and more. Drops or vibrations that would crack lesser screens or damage housing can be easily withstood by rugged builds. Even static charge and moisture resistance can be improved.

Mobility

Sunlight readable screens allow for easy viewing in any kind of light or shade. Detachable keyboards make the tablet versatile from office to field, and stylus or even finger writing capabilities allow for fast note taking or sketching on the go, without the need to thumb type or attach a board.

As computing needs keep changing, the government must keep pace with rapidly evolving solutions that mesh security, mobility, and productivity. Rugged tablets can be a key to embracing these changes in technology and will provide a seamless workflow uninterrupted by challenges faced with consumer grade devices.