Healthcare organizations are one of the biggest consumers of emerging technologies.
From simple desktop computers to sophisticated diagnostic equipment, technological innovation is the driving force behind the rapid advancement in health and patient care services. However, such deep penetration of technology in healthcare has been possible due to the computing devices becoming increasingly user-friendly.
Or rather, users have learned to imbibe the latest in-trend technologies to leverage the gamut of possibilities that digitization has brought along with it. However, due to constant usage, computers deployed in medical facilities are always susceptible to organized cyber threats, unintentional configuration drifts, and mishandling of sensitive patient data. Prompt resolution of these issues is not possible each and every time, mainly because of the diversity of devices, number of staff members accessing each device and the size of the facility.
- Third of US data breaches happen in hospitals
- Artificial intelligence driving intelligent hospitals
- Amazon is bringing AI to help read medical records
Legacy solutions for maintenance, management, and troubleshooting of medical computers are unable to match up to the rapid innovation and evolution in the healthcare sector. IT specialists responsible for the upkeep of medical computing devices are constantly looking out for advanced and scalable solutions to provide the expected service. In this regard, the reboot to restore technology has been gaining ground as the most effective and efficient solution for preserving the optimal working condition of each endpoint.
Here are the five major problems that healthcare IT staff has to tackle 24/7, and how these can be tackled by leveraging the reboot to restore technology.
Problem 1: configuration drifts
Computing devices in healthcare organizations are accessed by staff members from disparate teams. These professionals have to make prompt decisions frequently to tackle medical situations, that include matters concerning life and death. This also includes changing system settings and performing diagnosis as and when required to deliver patient care services with the level of agility that is expected from them. Providing such flexibility for staff is necessary for the mission-critical environment like that of a healthcare facility. But protecting systems integrity from configuration drifts has become a fundamental challenge for IT personnel managing such facilities.
Solution
The reboot to restore technology addresses such challenges by locking the admin-defined system configuration and preventing staff activities from having any permanent effect on the predefined state. By redirecting the changes made during ongoing sessions to a temporary space, the technology preserves the baseline settings while ensuring the smooth continuation of desired functions. In case of a configuration drift, the unwanted changes can be discarded and the original system configuration can be restored immediately by simply rebooting the device.
Problem 2: malfunction and performance decline
Computers in medical centers are used 24*7 due to the very purpose of their mission-critical functioning. These devices are accessed by multiple people including doctors, nurses, support staff, office admins and even patients for various requirements. Countless files are created on a daily basis, most of which are often for one-time use, redundant, or unnecessary. Similarly, the use of web-based applications or downloading/installing of unauthorized files and programs fills the medical computers with automatically generated add-ons, cookies, extensions, plugins and so on. The excessive load of unwanted elements consumes additional system resources, thus clogging its processing capability and resulting in performance deterioration.
Solution
The reboot to restore technology serves as the one-stop solution for addressing computer malfunction and performance degradation caused due to the aforementioned reasons. If a system shows even minor signs of malfunction, or its performance dips by even a fraction, the staff member using it only needs to restart the device. The instant restoration functionality of this technology comes into play and wipes out the unwanted files and inputs while reloading the admin-defined system configuration. Hence, the optimal performance of the device is restored within the time required for it to reboot.
Problem 3: malware
Malware is getting increasingly sophisticated with each passing year, and their primary targets are organizations that contain the most sensitive data. As healthcare facilities leverage cloud and other advanced technologies, the threat of malware infiltration due to unwanted system changes is common. IT personnel at medical institutes face the paradoxical challenge of preventing the malicious programs from affecting the desired state of systems without imposing restrictions on usage.
Solution
With the reboot to restore technology in place, baseline state of healthcare devices remain unaffected even if accidental or unauthorized changes occur, irrespective of how advanced and harmful they are. The technology provides impenetrable protection to the admin-set configuration. When an infected device is restarted, the malware or virus is completely eradicated and the baseline state is rolled back.
Problem 4: downtime
A survey of healthcare information systems (HCIS) by Ponemon Institute revealed that medical institutes face 2.7 total system outages on average over a period of two years, which is the highest when compared to other sectors. The same survey also revealed that healthcare facilities suffer the second-longest downtime as each incident renders a system unavailable for more than a couple of hours. At a more granular level, individual systems (endpoints or servers) experience more than one outage instance every year. The figures effectively draw the picture of system downtime in the healthcare sector and the critical need to fix it.
Solution
The instant system restoration capability of the reboot to restore technology virtually reduces downtime to zero. From minor glitches to complete system failure, issues of any magnitude can be resolved with just a restart. As long as the issue is not originating from hardware, the reboot to restore technology can resolve an issue in approximately the same time taken for a device restart. Since the technology empowers end users by minimizing dependence on traditional troubleshooting methods with lengthy execution process, the only period for which devices remain unavailable is the reboot time.
Problem 5: overloaded IT teams
Staff strength of healthcare facilities ranges from hundreds to thousands, depending on their scope of service. However, irrespective of the size of the medical center, its IT team comprises only a handful of technology specialists. Expecting a few people to monitor hundreds of endpoints and actively resolve issues as and when they occur is unrealistic, which manifests in the form of problems stated above.
Solution
The reboot to restore technology significantly reduces the load on IT professionals managing a healthcare center. The technology makes every staff member capable of troubleshooting even unprecedented issues as they only have to restart the device to restore its pristine state. Manual intervention is required only in case of hardware failure or as part of the organization’s protocol. This allows technology experts to focus on more critical concerns rather than just troubleshooting for the most part of the day.
The five problems stated above, and the relevant capabilities of the reboot to restore technology, aptly underscore why healthcare institutes should leverage this innovation for maintaining their medical computers. Reboot to restore software solutions are, therefore, rapidly expanding their customer base in the healthcare sector. More importantly, these software solutions come along with myriad additional features that assist healthcare IT staff in managing the entire infrastructure more effectively and efficiently.
Jose Richardson, Marketing at Faronics
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