Technology has transformed the healthcare sector.
While patient outcomes continue to be the primary focus for healthcare organisations, the foundations of the industry now centre around technology infrastructure and data.
As a result, healthcare IT administrators are on the frontline of patient experience.
Healthcare organisations like Canopy Cancer Care in New Zealand, relies on IT partner CNS and Paessler AG to look after its infrastructure across four locations around the country.
In an interview with CIO Tech Asia George Wilson director of operations APAC Paessler said, working with Canopy Cancer Care one of the leading cancer treatment centres in New Zealand, highlights the importance of IT infrastructure and management.
“Delays in receiving critical test results, or downtime of a refrigerator for example can have a direct impact on both patient care as well as the bottom line,” he said. “Maintaining optimum performance of Canopy Cancer Care’s IT infrastructure is crucial to mitigating these patient risks.”
Wilson said there has always been a clear link between the role of data and IT in protecting and saving lives.
“As a result, investments into IT management and visibility are critical,” he said. “For example, Canopy Cancer Care is fully managed by CNS which includes vulnerability management, network capacity management and forecasting.”
By monitoring the uptime, quality, speed and reliability of the IT infrastructure, Canopy Cancer Care can provide patients the “security and stability” required to deliver the best possible care.
“Successful IT management in the healthcare sector has some significant and compelling outcomes: hospital admissions can be avoided, test duplication can be reduced, and professionals can better coordinate care for people with chronic and complex conditions through informed treatment decisions,” he said.
According to Wilson IT infrastructure is key to meeting changing patient expectations and supporting the demands of modern medicine.
“With visibility on aspects like IT capacity, performance, and security, network environmental issues can be resolved before they become wider problems,” he said. “Tools like network monitoring allow healthcare professions to better plan IT budgets and infrastructure enhancements through data driven insights. As a result, they can better prepare for future healthcare challenges.”
