Tag: medical computer
The Role of Medical PCs in Modern Healthcare
Medical PCs have become an essential component in modern healthcare, enabling healthcare providers to provide efficient, accurate, and effective patient care. Medical PCs are computers designed specifically for use in healthcare settings, with features and functions that cater to the unique needs of healthcare providers. In this blog, we will explore the role of medical PCs in modern healthcare and the benefits they offer to healthcare providers.
Role of Medical PCs in Modern Healthcare:
- Medical PCs streamline healthcare operations
Medical PCs have transformed healthcare operations, allowing healthcare providers to streamline their workflows and reduce the risk of errors. Medical PCs are designed to be used in clinical settings, with features such as touch screens, antimicrobial coatings, and fanless designs to ensure they are durable, easy to clean, and hygienic. These features make medical PCs ideal for use in healthcare environments where infection control is critical.
- Medical PCs improve patient care
Medical PCs have a significant impact on patient care, enabling healthcare providers to access patient records, review test results, and communicate with other healthcare professionals in real-time. Medical PCs are often used in conjunction with electronic health record (EHR) systems, enabling healthcare providers to access and update patient records instantly. This can lead to better patient outcomes, improved patient safety, and reduced medical errors.
- Medical PCs enhance clinical decision-making
Medical PCs provide healthcare providers with access to critical patient data, enabling them to make informed decisions about patient care. Medical PCs can be used to display medical images, such as X-rays, CT scans, and MRIs, providing healthcare providers with a detailed view of a patient’s condition. Medical PCs can also be used to access medical reference materials, such as medical textbooks and clinical guidelines, providing healthcare providers with the latest information about medical conditions and treatments.
Benefits of Medical PCs in Modern Healthcare:
- Increased efficiency
Medical PCs enable healthcare providers to access patient records and other medical data quickly and easily, reducing the time needed for administrative tasks and enabling providers to focus on patient care.
- Improved accuracy
Medical PCs provide healthcare providers with access to real-time patient data, reducing the risk of errors and improving patient safety.
- Better communication
Medical PCs enable healthcare providers to communicate with other healthcare professionals in real-time, facilitating collaboration and improving the quality of patient care.
- Enhanced patient care
Medical PCs enable healthcare providers to access critical patient data, providing them with the information they need to make informed decisions about patient care.
- Improved patient outcomes
Medical PCs can lead to better patient outcomes by reducing medical errors, improving patient safety, and enabling healthcare providers to provide more accurate and effective patient care.
Medical PCs have become an integral part of modern healthcare, providing healthcare providers with the tools they need to provide efficient, accurate, and effective patient care. Medical PCs enable healthcare providers to streamline their workflows, access critical patient data, and communicate with other healthcare professionals in real-time. The benefits of medical PCs in modern healthcare are numerous, and they are likely to play an increasingly important role in the future of healthcare.
Waterproof Properties of Medical PCs
Computers have become the backbone of the health care industry. They allow medical workers to efficiently process patient cases, control devices that perform CT scans, ultrasounds, MRIs, or blood tests, and help doctors show patients their X-rays to explain their situation.
And given the technical demands of the health care environment, purchasing waterproof medical PCs that can withstand incidents like blood and vomit splatter is crucial. But how can you know if a medical PC is waterproof?
Let’s find out.
Why Do Medical PCs Need to Be Waterproof?
As medical PCs are used in ICUs, emergency rooms, and wards, they’re often exposed to fluids like vomit, blood, or urine that could penetrate inside and damage the motherboard or processor of the computer, rendering it unusable.
And this is not a farfetched scenario.
In reality, liquid spills are par for the course in hospitals, so the likelihood of liquid exposure is very high. Also, a medical PC that shuts down in the middle of an operation can be disastrous for the patient, surgeon, and hospital.
So, all medical PCs must have an IP65 rating, which means they must come with sealed bezels and zero crevices that could lead to water intake.
3 Properties That Make Medical PCs Waterproof
Medical PCs aren’t like consumer-grade PCs, which have dozens of crevices through which water can sneak in. But what makes them different?
- They Have Sealed Bezels
Unlike conventional PCs, medical PCs come with sealed front bezels that prevent water from penetrating the PC components.
As a result, the likelihood of the PC’s processor being soaked in an accidental liquid spill decreases, allowing surgeries and screenings to continue in even the dampest environments.
- They Have Waterproof Panels
Hospitals and other health care environments are pits of bacteria, so medical PCs have to be scrubbed every few hours with antibiotic and antiviral solutions to keep infections at bay.
As a result, their outer surfaces have to be water-resistant so water doesn’t seep into the inner components when they are scrubbed using chlorine-water solutions or alcohol.
- They Have an IP65 Rating
An IP65 rating protects an appliance against condensation, water spray, and low-pressure water jets from all directions. Medical PCs usually have an IP65 rating, which means they’re protected against accidental liquid spills in the hospital environment.
The Bottom Line
The hospital environment is a hotbed of liquid spills and constant antimicrobial scrubbing, so any PC used in a health care setting is likely to get soaked at one time or another. And if the PC isn’t waterproof, it may be damaged beyond repair.
Thus, medical PCs, such as Tangent’s Medix M27T and Medix M24T, should have sealed bezels, an IP65 rating, and waterproof panels to withstand the hospital environment.
How long do Medical Computers Last?
Medical computers have unique features and specifications compared to consumer grade computers. The lifetime of healthcare-specific medical computers depends on the quality of the manufacturer. Durable components and sound engineering help determine the longevity of units. Like all electronic devices, there are brands and companies that healthcare administrators have come to rely on for performance and quality.
Medical Computer Lifespan
Medical computer lifespans are important considerations for healthcare facilities. New medical computers have a learning curve. Familiarity with the unit, such as new features, port locations or display arrangements require time for integration. Medical facilities may provide staff training and require additional user support, typically in the first few weeks. Annual medical computer replacements would cause too frequent waves in facility performance and efficiency. Many healthcare facilities, have flexible intervals in place for medical computer replacement times, thus finding a unit that will function properly until the next replacement interval is imperative. For most healthcare environments, three to five years is the replacement interval.
Medical computers by Tangent have a lifespan of 5 years plus.
Sooner replacements, due to medical computer failure can result in unplanned spending and frustration. Identifying a reliable medical computer manufacturer is imperative for reliability and to prevent workplace mishaps.
Tangent offers computers made specifically for healthcare institutions meeting the timeline for unit replacement.
Indications for a New Medical Computer
Beyond the typical three to five year medical computer replacement mark, there are indications to be aware of that signify its time for a medical computer change.
1. Software Compatibility: If your medical computer no longer supports your operating system, it’s time for a change. Receiving alerts and warnings that applications are no longer compatible with your medical computer operating system can indicate you need to replace your medical computer.
2. Poor Performance: Medical facilities are provide lifesaving services and there is no greater place for the need of efficiency. When your medical computer begins to operate sluggishly and unable to multitask rapidly, it’s time for a computer change.
3. Security Issues: At any time, receiving security warnings requires a call to your IT department. Patient confidentiality and sensitive information can never be jeopardized. Security vulnerabilities from failed software updates stemming from compatibility issues can indicate it’s time for a medical computer replacement.
Superior Craftsmanship by Tangent
Tangent medical computers use only the highest quality components. There is no stone left unturned when it comes to selecting the best-in-class CPUs, operating software, RAM, processors, graphics cards, touchscreens, ports.
In business for over 30 years, healthcare administrators have come to trust Tangent medical computers for reliability, efficiency, and quality. Using state-of-the-art manufacturing techniques, combined with top-of-the-line engineering, Tangent’s medical computers are powerhouse units providing reliable performance for years.
Contact Tangent today +1 800 342 9388.
Do Medical Computers Need Touchscreens?
When people refer to their “phone” these days, it’s more than likely they mean their “smartphone.” Smartphones have become ubiquitous in our society, and are becoming increasingly necessary for everyday life. But what caused these smartphones to take over their older cousins? One of the defining features that played a large role is the humble touchscreen. Touchscreens have become a must-have for phones for the ease of use they create. As the adoption of smartphones and even tablets into the workplace have shown, touchscreens play an important role in the evolution of technology and how we use it. But what about their use in the medical field, do medical computers need touchscreens?
Why Medical Computers Need Touchscreens
Medical computers work perfectly in the medical setting. As such, we can broaden this question out a bit more and consider whether computers need touchscreens. On a smartphone, touchscreens allow for a style of control that mouses and keyboards lack: gestures.
A gesture refers to the ways in which your touch(es) can be interpreted by a touchscreen enabled phone, tablet, or computer. For instance, you’ve probably “pinched” your phone’s screen before to zoom out on a photo — that’s a type of gesture. Standard computers are also capable of zooming out on a photo, but often have dedicated buttons or keyboard shortcuts to make these functions happen. With touchscreen computers, these gestures come across as second nature to end users. Because they are routinely using touchscreens on their phones in their daily lives, the shortcuts encapsulated in their gestures come as natural.
In a literal sense, no, medical computers do not NEED touchscreens. However, when taking into consideration ease of use, efficiency and practicality, the need for touchscreen medical computers is compelling.
With touchscreen computers, staff are able to interact with computers in a much more intuitive fashion than they could do with mouse and keyboard shortcuts. This can lead to increased staff productivity.
Versatility
Touchscreens are completely optional, there are no drawbacks to the user experience with the inclusion of one on a medical computer. Medical computers with touchscreens like the Medix T22B are completely capable of being used with a mouse and keyboard. Users who may be less inclined to use touchscreens can treat the screen just like any other monitor. Staff will fall into a mix of using both the touchscreen and their mouse and keyboard fluidly to accomplish tasks. Computers with touchscreens allow doctors and nurses to quickly zoom in on data or pick information cells in EHR software with just a tap.
Stay Progressive with Your Medical Equipment Selection
Gen Z is hitting the workforce in increasing numbers, taking their intimate knowledge of smartphones and computers with them. By selecting medical computers with touchscreens for your hospital, you are helping improve the way your medical staff can perform their job. For more information, contact Tangent Sales today.
RFID Ready Medical Computers
What Is RFID?
RFID stands for Radio-Frequency Identification. The technology standard is made up of RFID tags and readers. These tags have small radio receivers and transmitters inside them. When in contact with a reader, the tag will respond and transmit information it is carrying to the reader.
These tags can be used for a wide variety of tracking applications across the hospital. One area in which they can be used is in the tracking of patients in the hospital. Patients can have tags built right into their wristbands. These wristbands can then be used to access various doors and areas in the hospital. Your facilities team can set up each wristband to allow for certain privileges and access to specific areas. With these tags, you can ensure that the right people are in the hospital in the right areas.
Medical Computers With Wireless Readers
RFID readers are the other half of the RFID equation. They pick up the information from tags and display it on devices. Many medical computers rely on clunky RFID reader adapters. These adapters take up ports on the medical computer, as well as desk space. Further, they are prone to being accidentally disconnected and lost.
Medical computers like the Medix 22B feature an integrated SSO RFID. This reader allows doctors and nurses to quickly and easily sign onto the medical computer with ease. They can simply wave their enabled badge to the medical computer’s reader to gain access to their computer. This solves two problems in one.
First, your medical staff need strong, long, and complex passwords. By having your IT department tie badges to safe passwords, your hospital can have an increased layer of cyber security. Second, this allows your medical staff to have long passwords without having to remember them exactly or input them slowly everytime they access their computer.
RFID Ready Medical Computers
RFID tags and readers are quickly becoming a required tool in every workplace, including the hospital. Medical computers with built-in readers help your hospital stay on top of the future and prepare for what’s next. Make sure your hospital has the right tools by calling Tangent Sales today and asking about their range of RFID enabled devices.
Hygienic Medical Computers
Cleanliness remains a top priority for hospitals everywhere. Since the introduction of handwashing into the medical field, efforts to curb disease spread in the hospital have been largely successful. Still, medical institutions must remain vigilant in their hygienic practices to ensure that the risks to patients are minimized. Hospitals need quality medical computers that help to create a safe and clean environment for both staff and patients.
Why Medical Computer Hygiene Matters
Your doctors and nurses are constantly moving from one room to the next in your hospital. Throughout their busy day, they visit numerous different patients and co-workers. While they may not directly come into contact with each other, they no doubt all use the same medical computer in any given room. These computers become a breeding ground for harmful pathogens as staff use them throughout the workday.
But not all medical computers are afflicted by this issue. Many of them feature an antimicrobial coating to help protect against microbes.
Antimicrobial Coatings Add A Layer Of Protection
An antimicrobial coating mitigates the growth of pathogens on whatever surface it is spread on. These coatings work along the same lines as naturally occurring antimicrobial materials, like copper. Antimicrobial materials interrupt a bacteria cell’s respiratory and metabolic functions. Over a brief period of time, this leads to the cell being unable to create energy and proliferate.
Medical computers like the KW15 from Tangent feature an antimicrobial coating across its surfaces. The KW15’s enclosure mitigates the growth of pathogens, which helps create a safer hospital environment overall. The cast aluminum enclosure is also built to last, and features a fanless cooling system. The KW15 also features other sanitary features, such as a washable touchscreen to help make it even more hygienic.
Washable Medical Computers
Doctors and nurses routinely wash their hands throughout a shift to minimize the risk of spreading pathogens around the hospital. Likewise, medical computers should be routinely cleaned to minimize disease transmission. Computers from Tangent feature antimicrobial enclosures to help mitigate this transmission. But they also sport IP rated touchscreens as an added layer of protection.
The Medix 22 from Tangent features an IP65 rated touchscreen that can be easily cleaned. This touchscreen can withstand standard cleaning agents without damage to the screen. Doctors and nurses can give their computers a quick cleanup before and after use. Combined with its antimicrobial layer, the Medix 22’s IP65 rated touchscreen can give medical staff peace of mind about the sanitation efforts being employed.
Medical Tablets
EN 60601-1 Certification
Among the most important features for medical grade devices is EN 60601-1 Certification. Medical tablets with the certification are shielded from Electromagnetic interference both from receiving and also from producing it. EN 60601-1 is a certification that distinguishes a medical tablet from a consumer grade medical tablet.
Medical Tablets with Antimicrobial Surfaces
When you think of tablets, you probably first think of the ones available to consumers. These tablets are designed for home use, but have increasingly found a home in the commercial and creative world. Despite their growing popularity in the workforce, they have some fatal flaws that make them a poor choice for use in the medical world. For starters, nearly all of them lack an antimicrobial enclosure.
An antimicrobial enclosure is a medical grade tablet casing that mitigates the growth of pathogens across the tablet. These coatings help reduce the spread of germs in a hospital. Traditional tablets lack these coatings, and can pose a serious risk as they are passed around from one worker to another.
Medical Tablets also feature components designed to run medical programs. The T13 from Tangent can be customized to include an Intel Core I7 Kaby Lake processor. This processor is more than fast enough to run all the electronic health records and medical programs your hospital employs with ease.
With up to 32 gigabytes of RAM, the T13 from Tangent is a multitasking machine. It can run numerous applications at once without lag. Doctors and nurses won’t have to pick and choose which programs they can run, they can simply trust that their equipment is capable of doing what is needed.
Customization Options For Medical Grade Tablets
Tangent offers a wide range of customization options for their medical grade tablets. This helps ensure that they can be a dynamic part of your hospital’s arsenal, capable of taking on multiple roles. The T13 from Tangent can be customized with different processors and amounts of RAM. Tangent’s T13 also features hot-swap batteries.
Hot-swap batteries from Tangent are removable batteries that can be replaced without interrupting a medical grade tablet while in use. Simply remove one battery, put it on an external charger, and swap out a freshly charged one to have continuous use of the tablet.
The ability to operate redundantly makes the T13 great for pop-up clinics or other non stationary applications.
The T13 features a front facing camera, RFID reader, Barcode Scanner, and much more. There are countless roles for the T13 in any hospital. Some applications can be to catalog inventory in the pharmacy, keep track of medication en route to patients, and serve as a communication device.
Customize Your Hospital With Tangent
Tangent’s line of medical grade tablets are designed to help keep your hospital running efficiently. For more information about Tangent’s tablet offerings, contact Tangent today.
Medical Grade Computers For VESA Mounting Systems
This pandemic has taught hospitals a number of lessons. They have had to be resourceful with PPE, adapt to ever-changing guidelines, and always be ready to accept change. Above all, your hospital has learned to be efficient with its resources. Standardization exists to aid in efficiency. Needles sizes come in certain standards, as do surgeon scalpels. One area that you may not associate with standardization is your computer monitor’s mount. Nearly all mounting systems are VESA mounts, but not every computer is compatible with these systems. Medical grade computers should be VESA compliant to avoid unneeded adapters, maintenance, and cut down on inefficiencies.
What Is Vesa Mounting?
The VESA Mounting Interface Standard, which is also referred to as the Flat Display Mounting Interface, is a collection of standards that applies to wall mounts. Specifically, VESA standards encompass the mounting of panel monitors, televisions, and other digital displays on walls or mounts of any variety. The standard was created in 1997 and has seen widespread adoption for its ease of use and rigid design. VESA mounting is used in nearly every industry, as well as in homes everywhere. It is one of the most common mounting standards. Even for mounts that are not VESA compliant, many adapters exist to ensure that they are always compatible.
The benefit of using medical grade computers that are VESA compliant is their ability to function right out of the box. Therefore your IT team will not have to worry about finding adapters to mount the computers onto your existing desk and wall mounts. Being VESA compliant also ensures that spare parts are always readily available from a variety of sources, and cuts down on the amount of inventory your IT needs in spare parts. Having all of your medical grade computers use VESA mounting keeps things organized and easily understood by all staff.
Tangent medical grade computers are VESA compliant, and can be mounted on a variety of different systems. They all feature four threaded holes in the correct rectangular pattern to be mounted on movable arms, desks, walls, and medical carts.
Medical Grade Computers That Are VESA Compliant
Medical Grade Computers like the E22B from Tangent feature VESA mounting systems. The E22B also has a full touchscreen. Therefore doctors and nurses can use the E22B while it is mounted to a wall, without needing a mouse or keyboard. It can be used in small offices or spaces where a full desk is not practical. It can also serve on mounted arms, allowing doctors to place the computer wherever they need.
Tangent: Efficiency at Its Finest
Standardization has been used throughout the industrial and digital era to make systems and processes more efficient. Keep your hospital running smoothly and maintenance issues down by using VESA compliant medical grade computers. For more information, contact Tangent Sales today.