by Steve Poitras, Solutions Architect, Nutanix
There are two things I normally notice when I visit the doctor – 1) a massive stack of paper medical records and 2) long visit times…
The need…
I’ve always been huge fan of adopting and evolving the IT services utilized in the medical industry. Here we have an industry who is pushing the forefront of technology for the analysis and treatment of patients – but plagued by archaic IT and paper based records.
In comes the consumerization effect…
The Consumerization of IT has been a big trend for businesses in the last years, essentially giving the “end-user” the ability to have flexibility over devices. When it comes down to it there are a few key things people care about:
Patients:
- Analysis & treatment
- Quick visit times
- Privacy
Medical Practitioners
- Mobility
- Flexiblity
- Availability
IT
- Security
- Policy & Control
- Compliance
However, a key concern with consumerization is always about keeping data secure and mitigating any potential security risk. With EMR and VMware® Horizon View™ this is now possible. Virtual desktops allow IT to centrally manage and host desktops and data from a secure location and then expose these services to end-user devices over encrypted and private networks.
The impact…
Doctors and healthcare providers are always on the move and constantly moving from patient from patient to keep up with patient demands. Now, what if they had the ability to look at the next patient’s medical records while walking down the hall on a tablet or mobile device? The ability to view a digital x-ray immediately after its taken? Mobile crowdsourced collaboration with fellow medical professionals?
What you get is increased efficiency (aka patient turnover), flexibility of devices for doctors and medical professionals and, most importantly, a happy patient.
The answer…
The VMware® AlwaysOn Point of Care™ solution bridges the gap between virtual desktops and EMR solutions. With VMware Horizon View becoming the first validated VDI solution to achieve “Target Platform” status for Epic , VMware is helping revolutionize how medical practitioners deliver services.
So what is it and how did we get here? To help highlight the solution I’ve broken it up into the following steps:
Step 1: Make the records electronic → Electronic Medical Records (EMR)
Step 2: Enable for secure and mobile consumption → VMware Horizon View (VDI)
Step 3: Make sure it’s highly available →VMware AlwaysOn Architecture
Result: Delivery of efficient patient services → VMware AlwaysOn Point of Care Solution (EMR + VDI)
To learn more about the solution visit the VMware Solutions for Healthcare Page. To learn more about the Nutanix + VMware solution for AlwaysOn delivery check out the following Nutanix AlwaysOn Solution Brief.
Final thoughts
I’ve always envisioned a doctor’s office where I can be automatically checked in upon arrival, where doctors walked around with tablets allowing them to access my medical records and view digital x-rays in real-time. With the VMware AlwaysOn Point of Care solution with EMR, this can finally be a reality.
To learn more or if you have any questions feel free to reach out to me on Twitter.
To learn more about how else Nutanix and VMware can meet your needs, please visit us online and follow us on Twitter: @Nutanix and @vmwarehit
