Barwon Health

Advanced Clinical Computing Environment Tests Positive At Barwon Health

Sun Thin Client Technology Helps Deliver Critical Bedside Care

As the largest regional health care provider in Victoria, Barwon Health delivers health services to a geographically dispersed population at 21 different locations. Incorporating sites such as Geelong Hospital and the McKellar Centre, Barwon Health provides a full range of services from emergency and acute care to mental heath, primary care, community services, aged care and rehabilitation.

Barwon Health takes pride in its state-of-the art facilities and the level of care that they enable. Yet it constantly looks for new ways to improve its facilities and services and recently turned to Sun to help tackle the problem of paper-based patient information within the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

As Paul Cohen, Executive Director Information Services at Barwon Health explained, clinicians are highly mobile people. "Our hospital staff have to check patient information and make notes on the spot as they move from bed to bed and ward to ward," he said.

Systems integrator Incarta IT has been a Sun partner for more than 8 years and is a specialist in systems for the health care industry. The company knew that Sun's thin clients offered the best solution for an intensive care environment.

The systems offer improved reliability over traditional computing environments at a fraction of the cost. Also, Java smartcard technology enables quick and secure access to patient data and other applications stored on the server as staff move about the ward. It was these factors that convinced Barwon Health to evaluate the Advanced Clinical Computing system based on Sun technology.

Sun and Incarta IT worked closely with Barwon Health on various aspects of the system including application integration as well as change management and staff training. Once the solution and the staff were ready, a trial system was set up.

The trial system was up and running right away, with no major problems. It was quickly extended to every bed in the ICU.

Sun Ray Ultra-Thin Client 170s are installed at the foot of the beds in the ICU. The Sun Ray 170 is ideal for sites where space is limited. It comprises a 17-inch flat panel display, a keyboard and a mouse and connects to the existing network.

Each member of staff has a personal Java smartcard that quickly activates the Sun Ray 170 and brings up the screen where they last left off. This ensures seamless, consistent access to information and saves critical time for staff.

"These workstations are easy to install and need no configuration - they just plug into our network. The system is very fast and easy to operate and the high levels of authentication as well as the absence of a local operating system makes our Sun Ray thin clients virtually immune from unauthorised access and virus attacks," said Cohen.

Supporting the Sun Ray 170s are Sun Fire V210and X4100 servers and the Sun Solaris 10 operating system. Solaris 10 provides the security and reliability required for a critical care facility. The fact it makes the systems easy to manage is a major value add.

As well as patient data, the Advanced Clinical Computing system offers users access to email and other common software applications such as word processing. Clinical systems are also online for items such as pathology and radiology results, as well as staff rostering information.

"We have 60 Sun Ray 170s at the moment and plan to deploy a total of at least 200 workstations. As the technology expands and rolls out to other locations within Barwon Health, we find more and more clinicians asking when their area will be online," said Cohen. "This proves just how well the system works."

"The staff have realised the benefit of capturing patient information at the point of care and being able to share it immediately with other clinicians. It's not just about simplifying processes; it's about improving patient care through the use of technology."

Dr. Charlie Corke, Director of the Intensive Care Unit agrees. "We are absolutely delighted with the way this mobile computing technology has been applied in an ICU environment. It's a very powerful tool and the response from our staff has been overwhelmingly positive. In fact, I think there would be a riot if we suggested moving back to PCs.