How HP will transform your hospital
Using IT to improve healthcare and save lives

In the hospital of the future, it may not be the latest drug that saves your life but the computer system. That is why hospitals across Europe are undergoing a digital transformation. HP's Digital Hospital Infrastructure is a preview of the future of healthcare IT, a future in which electronic health records will improve both the quality of care and the efficiency of the people who give it. That means replacing expensive, hard-to-share and easily lost film (X-rays, for example) with digital images. It means moving from scribbled notes and paperwork to networked software that accurately registers and quickly transmits patient records. With a few simple clicks, doctors and nurses will have immediate access to high-resolution digital images, laboratory results and medication histories. If doctors can access health records instantaneously and make more informed decisions about diagnoses and treatment, it will save time, money and, most importantly, lives. "We can help hospitals unleash the potential that information technology brings with it so that they can move into the 21st century," said Ingo Juraske, HP vice president and head of Public Sector, for Europe, Middle East and Africa (HP EMEA).

The Next revolution in Healthcare
The next revolution in healthcare is not only about medicine, but also about using technology to deliver information that drives safe and efficient patient-centric care. Hospitals in the European Union are stepping up their investments in a move to become digital hospitals. By 2010, the European Commission predicts that five percent of national health budgets will be invested in e-health systems and services.1 HP, Cisco and Norway-based Cardiac are collaborating to help hospitals to go ‘digital’ and step up to meet 21st century needs. They are providing a set of solutions developed through many years of combined experience working in the area of healthcare ICT. At St Olav's Hospital in Trondheim, Norway, HP and partners are helping to establish one of the most technologically advanced and innovative hospitals in Europe. Using network appliances from Cisco Systems and middleware from Cardiac, HP built a highly distributed network that uses the latest mobile and wireless technology. This overhaul of St Olav’s IT infrastructure lays the foundation for a true digital hospital. Internet Protocol (IP) will form the basis of all communication at the hospital – from digital dictation and web collaboration to XML applications, IP telephony and paging.

Patients will benefit
What does this mean in practice? At St Olav’s, the HP iPAQ Pocket PC will be more than just a ‘Personal Digital Assistant,’ it will serve as a ‘Medical Digital Assistant’ that replaces mobile telephones and pagers. Doctors moving around the hospital will receive new data about their patients. Trauma calls, alarms and ordinary messages – all go via the wireless IP network to a single handheld device. The hospital’s Nurse Call system operates through the patient's bedside terminal and connects the patient to a call handler. The system has a predetermined order of call routing, sending the call to a preassigned nurse. If the nurse does not respond within a certain time, the call is routed to an alternative nurse and onwards until the call has been responded to. In business terms, it increases efficiency by making best use of the ward staff’s skills. For the patient, it leads to more responsive care from the right person at the right time. Nurse Call is part of a total integrated technology picture that also includes: IP phones, wireless IP phones, PDAs, RFID tags on equipment, integrated medical devices, and patient entertainment terminals. HP's role includes: acting as systems integrator, providing overall project management, system architecture design, integration with Cardiac's middleware, security provision, and implementation of network and open roaming.

St. Olav’s design and IT principles will also be applied to Nye Ahus, a new hospital in Oslo, Norway. HP and its partners are involved in the project. Construction is expected to be completed in 2008. St. Olav’s is an example of what the health industry is increasingly looking to HP and other IT suppliers to provide – help in transforming the European health system. "We are building a hospital ICT infrastructure to unlock the benefits of modern healthcare communication for the coming decades," said Arve-Olav Solumsmo, public relations manager of the Hospital Development Project. "Our technology suppliers must not only be state of the art, but state of the future art."