Mount Desert Island Hospital now offers high speed wireless-N (Wi-Fi) service at all seven Health Centers and upgraded service within the hospital. Public service is available in waiting areas at health centers and in waiting areas and patient rooms within the hospital. The new service is part of technology infrastructure upgrade built to support the integration of electronic medical records throughout the hospital organization.
The wireless system is built to support both a secure network to provide access to medical records from wireless devices and a public network for patient internet access. “The public network is completely segmented from our private network and doesn’t even use our same internet provider as we use for business,” said MDI Hospital Information Technology Director Mark White.
Prior to this upgrade, MDI Hospital offered internet access to patients through a slower, wireless-G Wi-Fi network. This new system is considered many times faster and is easier to connect to access the web. Public users are required to agree to the hospital’s Acceptable Use Policy prior to be granted access to the internet.
Over the past several months, MDI Hospital’s technology teams have been implementing electronic medical records systems at the Behavioral Health Center, Cadillac Family Practice, Family Health Center, and Cooper-Gilmore Health Center in Bar Harbor and the Trenton Health Center and Community Health Center in Southwest Harbor.
Electronic records improve the efficiency of health care delivery by providing quicker access to information necessary for patient care and to improve accuracy which results in higher quality care.