7SIGNAL’s Sapphire Eye Helps a Major Hospital System with Wi-Fi Issues

A large healthcare organization had problems with Wi-Fi issue identification and timely resolution. Thanks to a partnership with NAS Wireless, 7SIGNAL deployed Sapphire Eye to help.

Key takeaways:

• A major hospital system couldn’t get a handle on frequent Wi-Fi and wireless client problems, so IT leadership chose to deploy 7SIGNAL to gain visibility.
• Healthcare facilities must have consistent, high-performing Wi-Fi for a variety of mission-critical purposes, from wireless medical devices to efficient patient information sharing.
• Sapphire Eye® from 7SIGNAL continuously monitors the WLAN and shows user experiences to determine the root causes of issues and inform rapid solutions.

7SIGNAL recently partnered with NAS Wireless, a leading integrator of turnkey wireless network solutions, to help a large healthcare system improve the quality of its WLAN. IT managers of the medical centers required a solution to sustain wireless connections through the fast resolution of any issues. 

They’ve chosen to implement Sapphire Eye® at several facilities to help ensure mission-critical devices don’t lose Wi-Fi connections or experience slowdowns. NAS Wireless and the hospital system leverage the platform to sustain strong connections for patients, visitors, and staff.

Common Wi-Fi challenges in healthcare environments

Hospitals and large healthcare systems have complex and growing connectivity needs. Many clinicians, patients, staff, and visitors enter and exit the facility each day. More importantly, endpoints that must connect include critical medical devices, from large machinery to small wearables that track patient vitals. 

All these moving parts within a WLAN coverage area can pose issues for network managers tasked with avoiding problems caused by congestion or interference. 

Dependable Wi-Fi has become even more crucial in healthcare environments despite these challenges. Hospitals and hospital systems depend on it to:

• Improve relationships between caregivers and patients
• Ensure medical information is shared instantly and securely for accurate, timely treatment
• Streamline how data and insights are managed and communicated across devices
• Avoid patient safety issues that may be caused by connection outages or performance slowdowns 
• Maintain quality of care through networked devices, including those that remotely monitor vital signs
• Support a wide variety of medical equipment and biomedical devices that need constant, high-performing Wi-Fi to work properly
• Improve patient satisfaction scores that may influence access to funding 

Smart network design can meet these challenges in concert with gaining the visibility needed to maintain performance. 

Wireless experience monitoring helps accomplish these goals, allowing IT staff to view real-time data—not just concerning the network infrastructure but how individual clients experience connections. Problems are quickly uncovered and addressed, often before end-users even notice or report them.

How Sapphire Eye helps healthcare organizations 

Sapphire Eye from 7SIGNAL reveals the root causes of network problems, such as RF interference or application-specific issues. It is a Wi-Fi sensor that assesses and helps improve both connections and digital experiences. Sapphire Eye can be deployed across organizations with rapid monitoring capability and is compatible with any access point (AP) or network configuration. 

Wireless network monitoring reduces mean time to resolution and provides the continuous monitoring and testing needed to maintain strong, consistent connections.

7SIGNAL® is the leader in wireless experience monitoring, providing insight into wireless networks and control over Wi-Fi performance so businesses and organizations can thrive. Our cloud-based wireless network monitoring platform continually tests and measures Wi-Fi performance at the edges of the network, enabling fast solutions to digital experience issues and stronger connections for mission-critical users, devices, and applications. Learn more at www.7signal.com.