FIGURE 3 : Examples of a modular troubleshooting toolset with wide-ranging capabilities. Source: AEM
devices and the use of electronic health records (EHR) systems, can necessitate the use of multi-gigabit Ethernet at the access layer of the network. Because of this, ITOps teams should have access to test tools that can run validation and diagnostic tests for twisted pair Ethernet. These tests are used to ensure that these types of multi-gigabit devices will be able to connect at the correct TX/RX speeds. Alternatively, some medical equipment may come with optical fiber connectors rather than copper. ITOps administrators in the field must therefore have access to test tools that have optical fiber test capabilities. Uptick in High-Definition Video and Voice Use As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of telemedicine in the U.S. has exploded. This often includes the use of high-definition (HD) video and
voice over IP (VoIP). Medical staff working on campus are consuming far more LAN and Internet bandwidth than ever before, while also requiring low network latency for real-time data communications. Due to this change in network behavior, ITOps will likely be addressing more complaints of slow network connectivity. A portable test tool can be used in these situations to verify that cabling from the medical staff’s PC to the network switch passes strict cable validation tests. Additionally, further tests can be run over time to ensure that network latency and data transport speeds are within an application’s recommended requirements. Broken Cables/Terminations Inside Patient Care Areas The amount of networked equipment now found inside healthcare patient and examination rooms
of this article will examine six unique cabling and Wi-Fi troubleshooting scenarios that are commonly encountered in healthcare settings. Guest Wi-Fi When patients and guests visit a healthcare facility, easy access to guest Wi-Fi services is expected. In areas of a healthcare IT campus where patients and visitors are frequent, the reliance on guest Wi-Fi is much higher compared to most typical enterprise offices. Healthcare ITOps staff must be prepared to field larger numbers of trouble tickets where patients and visitors might encounter issues connecting to or receiving sufficient bandwidth from the guest Wi-Fi network. Due to the fluid nature of wireless propagation and the high likelihood of external interference causing
wireless performance problems in the 2.4, 5 and 6 GHz unlicensed spectrum ranges, IT administrators need to connect to the guest Wi-Fi network to troubleshoot in problematic locations (Figure 4, page 34). Depending on the reported guest Wi-Fi issue, ITOps staff may be required to: • Connect to the guest Wi-Fi network to verify signal strength using calculated dBM values. • Run ping/traceroute tests. • Ensure that roaming between Wi-Fi access points is functioning as intended. • Verify that DHCP/DNS services are working properly and perform throughput stress tests to verify sufficient bandwidth is available.
Multi-gig Wired Ethernet Connectivity at The Access Layer Healthcare IT equipment, such as medical imaging
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