In healthcare settings, large facilities contain hundreds if not thousands of wireless devices, such as computers, wearables, scanners, mobile devices and medical devices. Each Wi-Fi 6 access point can handle more devices, improving connectivity and quality of patient care. Seamless collaboration and access to medical information saves lives. Wi-Fi 6 also improves the visitor experience by allowing family members to share medical updates more effectively.
2. Take Advantage of Wider Channels and Data Density
Hospitals produce staggering amounts of data that is shared across their wireless networks. Wi-Fi 6 routers have doubled the width of the channels through which they distribute network traffic, from 80 megahertz to 160MHz, compared with previous wireless standards. That means easier transfer of videos, medical imaging, analytics and documents. Administrators and physicians won’t have to contend with slow downloads or stunted communication with cloud services.
1024-QAM, another significant technology, allows 25 percent greater data throughput, boosting performance while enabling better, real-time patient monitoring.
READ MORE: See how the VA is using 5G in hospital settings.
3. Unlock Improved Care Via Battery Efficiency
Wi-Fi 6 employs Target Wake Time (TWT) to boost device battery life. Each connected device (or client) periodically “wakes up” to share data and check in with the network. When this happens too frequently, it can sap batteries of energy prematurely.
As clinicians increasingly adopt mobile devices, they need to extract every ounce of battery life to keep them focused on patients. Unexpected shutdowns can interrupt patient care or disrupt automated controls across a facility. Thankfully, TWT allows connected devices to sleep more deeply, and for longer periods. That significantly slashes battery consumption and keeps everyone in the loop.
