Healthcare
Today’s challenges for hospitals
The pressure on healthcare providers continues to grow as a result of several trends:
- more people are living with chronic disease,
- growing global population
- people in many regions are and living longer
At the same time, global healthcare faces budget constraints. Hospitals need to provide more care services, with fewer resources. They need to optimize efficiency to maximize the output of their operating budget and get the most out of what is in place. For that reason, operational costs are under scrutiny and there is increased focus on personalized treatment and prevention.
Digitization in healthcare continues to become more important as it enables new clinical approaches and technologies to optimise processes and resource usage.
Key challenges for IT in hospitals
Increasing reliance on data and applications means the network and connected equipment are the backbone of the entire hospital. Explosive growth in bandwidth demand will continue, along with wireless technology evolution and a threefold increase in power transmitted through IP networks.
Developments such as remote diagnostics, personalised medicine, mobile access to medical records, and increased use of wireless are driving demand for bandwidth over reliable, secure networks. New innovations such as Artificial Intelligence, blockchain, and virtual reality will drive this further.
IT solutions need to be compact and flexible to support scalability and future requirements and technologies while saving valuable space. Installation and operation of electrical equipment and systems used near patients is governed by stringent safety regulations. Standards such as IEC 80001 and IEC 60601-1 require professional risk management in hospitals.