Healthcare
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Healthcare Objectives
The primary business objectives or drivers for deploying a private wireless network in healthcare organizations include several industry-specific issues for which private wireless is expected to deliver operational benefits.
The most common objective (for 73% of healthcare respondents) is the reduction of connection failures and interruptions due to coverage gaps, highlighting the difficulty of finding a Wi-Fi or public network signal in healthcare settings including hospital campuses. Among those respondents, 85% have achieved improvements of more than 10% (including 46% achieving improvements of more than 20%). “Fewer connection failures and interruptions due to coverage gaps” was also chosen by more respondents (42%) than any other as the “greatest benefit so far”.
In addition to eliminating coverage gaps, there is also a priority in healthcare organizations for connectivity to be secure and compliant for the routing of patient data. Among those looking to private wireless, in part, for this specific reason, 100% achieved at least a 10% improvement. Location tracking for assets and staff has also improved by more than 10% for all healthcare organizations (100%) that prioritized it.
Top 10 primary business objectives for deploying private wireless
Fewer connection failures / interruptions
Secure, local data routing for compliance and faster EHR access
Enhanced network reliability and performance
Improved worker safety
Reduced unplanned production downtime
Improved cybersecurity
Improved asset and staff location tracking
Increased employee satisfaction
Enhanced product / service quality
Real-time patient monitoring and alarm reliability
Qualitative Insights
During in-depth qualitative interviews, similar benefits to those reported in the survey were cited by healthcare decision makers, reinforcing the importance of coverage, compliance, and reliability benefits.
Quantitative Insights
Top 10 desired benefits achieved
When asked in which of their priority areas they have achieved measurable benefits after deploying private wireless, 100% of healthcare organizations cited at least one.
When comparing desired benefits (as chosen by respondents among their objectives / drivers), against measurable benefits achieved, the survey shows that “number of reliable connected devices”, “compliance with regulation”, “operational efficiencies (e.g., automating complex tasks), “improved cybersecurity”, and “improved worker safety” were measurably achieved by 100% of organizations that prioritized them.
Other areas in which desired benefits were measurably achieved include both general (e.g., “improved real-time data for decision-making”), and healthcare-specific areas (e.g., “improved asset and staff location tracking”).
Number of reliable connected devices
Compliance with regulation
Operational efficiencies (e.g., automating complex tasks)
Improved cybersecurity
Improved worker safety
Improved real-time data for decision-making
Improved asset and staff location tracking
Fewer connection failures / interruptions due to coverage gaps
Enhanced product / service quality
Enhanced network reliability and performance
Top 5 unexpected benefits
Healthcare organizations also achieved benefits in areas which they did not expect. This chart reflects the percentage of organizations that did NOT select each benefit as an objective or driver for private wireless which achieved that benefit, nonetheless.
For example, 55% were surprised by the improvement in “secure local data routing for compliance and faster EHR” resulting from their deployment of private wireless, because it was not one of their original objectives. Similarly, “enhanced network reliability and performance” was an unexpected benefit for 50% of organizations, and “increased employee satisfaction” was an unexpected benefit for 48% of organizations which had not initially prioritized it.
Secure local data routing for compliance and faster EHR
Increased employee satisfaction
Improved real-time data for decision-making
Enhanced network reliability and performance
Fewer connection failures / interruptions due to coverage gaps
Total benefits expected
Respondents were also asked about the extent of improvement they expect to achieve from each measurable benefit resulting from their private wireless deployment. This includes the level of improvement achieved so far, combined with further benefits expected, ranging from 1 to 5% total benefit improvement at the low end, to more than 30% at the high end.
Organizations which have benefited from “improved asset and staff location tracking”, and “reduced unplanned production downtime”, expect those benefits to be greater than any other: in these areas, 60% of those that have achieved benefits expect the total benefit will result in improvement of more than 30%.
Note: the list of benefits is ranked by the number of respondents achieving each measurable benefit.
Healthcare Use Cases: Deployed & Planned
In healthcare organizations that have deployed private wireless, voice / comms is the use case most commonly deployed and / or planned for deployment (36% deployed, 58% planned within two years). IoT sensors (for equipment and environment monitoring) is the use case most deployed already (58%), while edge compute and handheld devices (e.g., scanners / laptops / tablets) both follow close behind at 52%.
Remote operations is among the top two use cases planned for deployment within two years (58%), while AGVs / AMRs (autonomous guided vehicles / autonomous mobile robots) is next, with 52% of healthcare organizations with private wireless networks planning to deploy them.
