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Here it is “The 5G Deployment Plan” available now!

If you are in health care, then you probably want to cover a hospital or a medical center for a specific reason. Your customer may be the patients or doctors or specialists or technicians. For patients, it may be a public network, but it’s likely you will be looking to build a private network.

If you are in health care, then you probably want to over a hospital or a medical center. Your customer may be the patients but more likely you will be looking at the following for a private network.

• Build your business case so that you can build your budget. Then you can start construction of the system with a solid plan in mind. It will be more than a wireless network, it will be an essential lifeline for many. Remember that privacy matters, for a good article on privacy in Wi-Fi, which may apply here, go to http://corporate.findlaw.com/litigation-disputes/hipaa-and-wifi-regulatory-tangles-for-wireless-health-care.html to see how it might affect any system you install. Also, go to https://meraki.cisco.com/lib/pdf/meraki_whitepaper_HIPAA.pdf and https://www.allpointcompliance.com/Blog/19159/HIPAA-and-Wireless-Security?_escaped_fragment_=#! To make sure you are compliant.
  1. Hospital coverage for patients and visitors. Wi-Fi coverage and cell coverage would be just what they need to help the time pass by and to alert family of the ongoing conditions of the patients.
  2. Paramedics coverage so they can collect data before they arrive at the hospital to treat patients properly. They would know the allergies prior to reaching any hospital and looking up medical records. They could see it all on the scene within minutes.
  3. Emergency care centers and hospitals could give their doctors instant access to data on a tablet anywhere in the hospital.
  4. Remote diagnosis could happen with accuracy. How, think of virtual reality and how if you could do a brain scan, MRI, or a live scan on a patient and someone, a specialist somewhere else in the world could look at it real-time using virtual reality seeing what the machine sees in real-time. They could not only see it, look at it in all angles, maybe even control the machine doing the scan and talk to the patient at the same time. This could save someone’s life as well as make specialists available nationwide from one location!
  5. Remote surgeries could happen with robotics and massive bandwidth. How? By having a remote doctor look and control the robot along with the local physician to help the patient along. They could upload surgeries for someone halfway around the world, looking at the live video while the surgery is happening. Taking the time to make evaluations and talking to the local surgeon while the specialist is operating the robotic surgical apparatus all while the patient is receiving the best care possible. This could give a new perspective to doctors without borders! WOW! This makes 5G a game changer for medicine worldwide!

The Wireless Deployment Handbook  Paperback that covers professional carrier end to end deployment of LTE small cells, CRAN, and DAS.

• Coverage – Cover your building (or campus), which could be:
  1. Hospital – I have covered hospitals and the things you have to look out for are crazy. They have lead lined rooms for X-Ray which means nothing will penetrate. Do you declare it a dead
     

     

     zone? Probably but the real issue is that you need to make sure you have antennas on each side of it, over and under it. The room causes problems all around it. Make sure to do your due diligence when covering such a complex building. Also, remember that there are lines run through it, like oxygen. It’s more than plumbing and electrical in a hospital.

  2. Medical Centers can be just as complex as hospitals, but on a smaller scale. It is a good idea go not only have the plans but to talk to the doctors and maintenance group to see what is really in the building. They don’t always document what is there, even though they are supposed to. What I am saying is, don’t just trust the drawings, ask around.
  3. Emergency Care Center is a place that you may think is like a hospital. Generally, they are an extension of the hospital with all the things a hospital may have, but on a smaller scale. Plan carefully.
  4. Surgery Centers are generally prepped for planned surgeries only. It has been my experience that these buildings are planned very carefully. I have had a lot of luck with drawings for these places, but again, ask around.
  5. Patient Care centers, generally doctor offices.
  6. Administrative Offices that are for the paperwork only.
  7. Medical campus or hospital grounds could be an issue. Here is an area where you may have to cover outside of the building. This is where you could have issues with privacy. When I was doing wireless backbones for hospitals and medical they were very concerned about privacy. There are rules under HIPAA for the privacy of the patients to be protected at all costs. Think about what the coverage is for. If it is simple access for Wi-Fi for the patients, then it will be handled differently than if it’s the coverage for hospital staff. Medical records are treated with the utmost confidentiality.
  8. Mobile coverage, this is generally handled by a carrier, most medical companies don’t spring for too much outside the building or off the campus.
• Goal – What is your primary goal?
  1. Track equipment, equipment in the hospital get lost or misplaced all the time, so why not track it, look for where it is at. Make your hospital a smart building to locate equipment quickly on a computer or tablet with an app.
  2. Page doctors for emergencies. This is obvious.
  3. Update patient records. Use tablets to keep records up to date then if someone sets a tablet down, use a location app to find it quickly. Patient records will be available to many nurses with proper privileges. Quickly, easily access, and anywhere in the hospital or just in a zone that is approved.
  4. Notify an alert when equipment leaves an area of the hospital. Prevents theft of not only equipment, but data if a tablet if being removed from a specific area like intensive care. HIPAA is a serious thing! (HIPAA is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act that protect patient’s privacy. If you have ever done wireless work for hospitals, then you are aware of the HIPAA.)
  5. Connect all the admin computers with a secure and private connection to avoid running wires everywhere.
  6. Internal wireless phone system so that all staff members can communicate anywhere on a floor or in the hospital. They should have devices that would have all the necessary features a Dr would need like voice and test.
  7. Patient monitoring and tracking so that patients can be moved and tracked in the hospital or medical center while their vitals are being monitored. If someone is going into cardiac arrest in a hallway, then the alert will come through immediately identifying the problem and the location.
  8. Connect paramedics to the hospital when they are on their way there with a patient. Again, mobile coverage but this is where they could start treating the patient in the vehicle. If they could have all the details prior to getting to the hospital, then they would be aware of any allergies that could kill the patient. They would be so much more effective if they get the information ahead of time.
  9. Remote countries could have robotic surgeries or training using high bandwidth. How? It would be in a hospital and the data would be sent in from someplace on the other side of the world. Surgery could be performed by a robot. Then, if done properly, MRIs or brain scans or any scan could be seen by someone in another country where they have the expertise for that symptom and they could make a diagnosis using 3D coverage. If the bandwidth is there, in that country and the specialist is in another country, he can help remotely with all the data. He could even remotely perform the surgery using robotics in another county by showing it what to do. I know this involves virtual reality and artificial intelligence to a certain point, but we are almost there! Isn’t it exciting that we can help more people around the world?

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• What is your budget? You will need to decide how much you want to spend before you determine what equipment you will purchase. This is a limiting factor if you are starting out with a preset amount. What most companies do is determine the need then ask an engineer or solution architect to create a design, which will cost money, then they know what the budgetary numbers are for the equipment and installation and testing. Don’t forget that you need to purchase the devices. Many people design the system but don’t add the cost of the end device, and they cost money too!
  1. Once the use is settled on, ask for a system design.
  2. Determine how many user devices you will need.
  3. Determine your backhaul needs and the cost to support it.
  4. Determine your estimated usage.
  5. Determine what support personnel you will need to support and maintain the system.
  6. Determine what the warranty is what the software updates will cost.
  7. Determine the life cycle of the system, technology moves quickly, will you grow or replace the system in 5 years?
• The spectrum needs to be thought out by where and how it will be used. Bandwidth could be critical or low latency could be critical.
  1. In building is obvious to provide internet access to patients. Wi-Fi or LTE-U would be the ideal spectrum for much of this use because it is license free, which is free and available on smartphones! They may want to use a licensed band but most medical centers leave that up to a carrier to cover the med center. If they decide to partner with a carrier then it is up to the carrier.
  2. In building for special services, like robotic operations by remote doctors or remote doctors giving their opinion for treatment while looking at video or MRIs of a patient while it is happening! These applications have very high bandwidth needs and would need to have mmwave to truly be effective. That way the doctors could see what is happening real-time, full video. Latency would depend on where in the world they were, but with the advances in robotics, remote doctors could guide the robot while seeing the patient real-time during the operation.
  3. Campus outdoor coverage would also be something like Wi-Fi or LTE-U. It would be something very cost-effective with off the shelf hardware to deploy. All the money will be put into security of the information. Network security will matter more than spectrum and will get a sizable budget towards it. HIPAA regulations will require heavy network security of patient’s records are sent over it. I dealt with that when working with point to point microwave to connect hospitals. We setup a remote MRI monitoring service and security on the network and over wireless was taken very seriously. HIPAA compliance was critical.
  4. For mobile coverage, it would probably be handled through a carrier. I don’t see any medical budget allowing for anything outside of the building or campus. I am being realistic here, they would use an existing service whether it is a carrier or a public safety partner. I would think public safety, like FirstNet, would allow them to use their network for a fee.

The Wireless Deployment Handbook eBook that covers professional carrier end to end deployment of LTE small cells, CRAN, and DAS showing you the proper way to plan for deployment then execute. 

Be smart, be safe, and pay attention!

Do you know what to put in your SOW, the details needed to get paid for milestones or job completion?