Nortel Buzzboard

I’m an old wireless guy by trade. I used to do wireless PR for Nortel. My first cellphone was a black Radio Shack brick. So being at a show like HIMSS08 in Orlando, where there’s strong Wi-Fi coverage throughout a good portion of the Orange County Convention Center, is… well, quite amazing compared to where things started for me 20 or so years ago.

But as amazing as it is to have convenient Wi-Fi access to check my e-mail and blog, it’s nothing compared to how wireless technology is revolutionizing healthcare.

Take Memorial Hospital at Gulfport, for example. After retiring its paper medical records system in 2006, this modern, 440-bed hospital on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast needed a better way to track patients and equipment, and a timelier, more efficient means of getting information and instructions to clinicians.

Now Memorial uses Nortel’s Asset Tracking and Management Solution and Collaborative Clinical Solution, both based on real-time location of patients, clinicians and assets via Wi-Fi tags.

Bill Hall, director, Healthcare Solutions for Nortel, will describe in more detail how these solutions can help hospitals save time and cost in his HIMSS presentation entitled “Key to Operational Efficiency in Healthcare: Asset Tracking and Management” from 5:15 - 6 p.m. eastern today (booth #8181).

These and other Healthcare Solutions built on unified communications technology and network managed services from Nortel are being demonstrated in the Nortel booth (#6281) at HIMSS.