How to increase the impact of smart mobile devices
10 considerations to refine your enterprise device mobility strategy to maximize the impact on care delivery by front-line caregivers.
For the usage of smart mobile devices to make a real impact on clinical care, hospitals and health systems must extend their concept of enterprise mobile communications to a holistic strategy—one that evolves around the end user, workflow, data, applications and other factors.
Tough challenges lie ahead for IT departments tasked with refining their enterprise mobile device strategy to grow with future needs.
Here are 10 “tried and true” recommendations to support greater levels of mobility, care team adoption and efficiency, and patient care.
1. Request the certified communications/smart device list from your electronic health record vendor. Most EHR vendors can provide this as a starting point to build or refine your enterprise mobile device strategy. The list ideally ranks the computing power of the device and its ability to access clinical data within the EHR.
2. Understand the market for shared mobile smart devices in the acute care setting. This market is in its infancy, with less than 10 percent of U.S. health systems having deployed shared mobile smart devices in their patient care settings. Be aware that many devices designed for healthcare are first-version releases and will rapidly evolve pending real-world clinical experience.
Two challenges commonly experienced by early adopters include learning to operationally deploy and manage devices exclusive of evidenced-based best practices and proven tools; and discovering that your expensive device investment is unexpectedly outdated and financially unfeasible due to the rapid technology evolution.
3. Compare iOS-based devices to Android-based devices. Key differences exist between the iOS and Android device landscapes. Apple’s iOS devices are consumer devices, whereas some Android devices are built purposely to support healthcare and other rugged environments. Notable differences are also found between consumer-grade and enterprise-grade devices.
4. Review devices that include VoIP phone capabilities. Ascom, Motorola and Spectralink are three such manufacturers.
5. Explore adding VoIP capabilities to a smart device lacking native VoIP support. Some ruggedized device manufacturers do not include native VoIP phone capability, including the Caterpillar CAT s50c and Honeywell Dolphin CT50H. VoIP phone capabilities can be added to devices by using an app offering “softphone” capabilities.
6. Consider the product lifecycle of a smart device. Purchasing a device in the first half of its lifecycle enables an organization to maximize its usefulness and longevity. For instance, if a device is in its fourth year of a five-year product lifecycle, the device most likely has a processor architecture that is four years old. In its second year of use, that processor architecture will be more than six years old. This may result in care team users decrying the devices are slow to use—especially as more apps are added through the years. Before making a significant investment in an older processor, research the timing of the next release.
7. Examine the performance of the device roaming across wireless access points. Most healthcare organizations have a high volume of wireless access points situated across multiple facilities. As a result, a device’s usability and performance in managing patient handoffs between access points is influenced significantly. To prevent problems, providers can question the device manufacturer for details on the work completed to ensure frequent access point transfers do not disrupt care operations. For example, find out how often device access points are checked for changes, as infrequent device polls increase the probability of certain access points being no longer in range. Likewise, count the number of access points in a 15-second walk in the facility.
8. Understand the difference between Android apps in the Google Play Store and Android devices. Several device manufacturers have modified their operating systems such that some functionality has been removed. Both the Motorola MC40 and the Ascom Myco, for example, offer custom versions of Android that no longer support the Google Play Store or Google Cloud Messaging capabilities. Thereby, apps leveraging push notifications can fail to work unless the app developer adds those capabilities. Question those differences, including the device’s Android consumer version.
9. Determine if your Android device choice supports Android for Work. Android for Work is a new enterprise program enabling consistent IT management and secure app distribution through an ecosystem of MDM vendors. It provides IT with a unified way to secure enterprise apps, manage disparate devices, and separate work and personal data at the OS level. Android for Work is the industry standard for app vendors providing capabilities to leverage a facility’s MDM and requires the Android device to be version 5.x or greater. For those device versions 4.x or less, the app installation and subsequent future upgrades must be completed manually.
Manufacturers that develop Android devices built purposely for commercial settings have a device lifecycle that better aligns with health enterprise expectations as opposed to consumer expectations. Consequently, while most consumer Android devices in use are version 6.x, the healthcare purpose-built devices are typically 4.x.
10. Make a well-researched device choice. Providers do not have to choose a single smart mobile device for enterprise-wide adoption among all care team members. In making your device selection decision, consider the care team member’s role and respective needs such as workflow. For example, deploying a device featuring VoIP phone capabilities for nurses—and other direct care personnel—may make more sense for accommodating workflow, as does selecting a less expensive device without VoIP capability for clinical support service staff.
Tough challenges lie ahead for IT departments tasked with refining their enterprise mobile device strategy to grow with future needs.
Here are 10 “tried and true” recommendations to support greater levels of mobility, care team adoption and efficiency, and patient care. 1. Request the certified communications/smart device list from your electronic health record vendor. Most EHR vendors can provide this as a starting point to build or refine your enterprise mobile device strategy. The list ideally ranks the computing power of the device and its ability to access clinical data within the EHR.
2. Understand the market for shared mobile smart devices in the acute care setting. This market is in its infancy, with less than 10 percent of U.S. health systems having deployed shared mobile smart devices in their patient care settings. Be aware that many devices designed for healthcare are first-version releases and will rapidly evolve pending real-world clinical experience.
Two challenges commonly experienced by early adopters include learning to operationally deploy and manage devices exclusive of evidenced-based best practices and proven tools; and discovering that your expensive device investment is unexpectedly outdated and financially unfeasible due to the rapid technology evolution.
3. Compare iOS-based devices to Android-based devices. Key differences exist between the iOS and Android device landscapes. Apple’s iOS devices are consumer devices, whereas some Android devices are built purposely to support healthcare and other rugged environments. Notable differences are also found between consumer-grade and enterprise-grade devices.
4. Review devices that include VoIP phone capabilities. Ascom, Motorola and Spectralink are three such manufacturers.
5. Explore adding VoIP capabilities to a smart device lacking native VoIP support. Some ruggedized device manufacturers do not include native VoIP phone capability, including the Caterpillar CAT s50c and Honeywell Dolphin CT50H. VoIP phone capabilities can be added to devices by using an app offering “softphone” capabilities.
6. Consider the product lifecycle of a smart device. Purchasing a device in the first half of its lifecycle enables an organization to maximize its usefulness and longevity. For instance, if a device is in its fourth year of a five-year product lifecycle, the device most likely has a processor architecture that is four years old. In its second year of use, that processor architecture will be more than six years old. This may result in care team users decrying the devices are slow to use—especially as more apps are added through the years. Before making a significant investment in an older processor, research the timing of the next release.
7. Examine the performance of the device roaming across wireless access points. Most healthcare organizations have a high volume of wireless access points situated across multiple facilities. As a result, a device’s usability and performance in managing patient handoffs between access points is influenced significantly. To prevent problems, providers can question the device manufacturer for details on the work completed to ensure frequent access point transfers do not disrupt care operations. For example, find out how often device access points are checked for changes, as infrequent device polls increase the probability of certain access points being no longer in range. Likewise, count the number of access points in a 15-second walk in the facility.
8. Understand the difference between Android apps in the Google Play Store and Android devices. Several device manufacturers have modified their operating systems such that some functionality has been removed. Both the Motorola MC40 and the Ascom Myco, for example, offer custom versions of Android that no longer support the Google Play Store or Google Cloud Messaging capabilities. Thereby, apps leveraging push notifications can fail to work unless the app developer adds those capabilities. Question those differences, including the device’s Android consumer version.
9. Determine if your Android device choice supports Android for Work. Android for Work is a new enterprise program enabling consistent IT management and secure app distribution through an ecosystem of MDM vendors. It provides IT with a unified way to secure enterprise apps, manage disparate devices, and separate work and personal data at the OS level. Android for Work is the industry standard for app vendors providing capabilities to leverage a facility’s MDM and requires the Android device to be version 5.x or greater. For those device versions 4.x or less, the app installation and subsequent future upgrades must be completed manually.
Manufacturers that develop Android devices built purposely for commercial settings have a device lifecycle that better aligns with health enterprise expectations as opposed to consumer expectations. Consequently, while most consumer Android devices in use are version 6.x, the healthcare purpose-built devices are typically 4.x.
10. Make a well-researched device choice. Providers do not have to choose a single smart mobile device for enterprise-wide adoption among all care team members. In making your device selection decision, consider the care team member’s role and respective needs such as workflow. For example, deploying a device featuring VoIP phone capabilities for nurses—and other direct care personnel—may make more sense for accommodating workflow, as does selecting a less expensive device without VoIP capability for clinical support service staff.
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