Patient satisfaction should be the ultimate focus of every operational decision as well as technology purchase, because the patient is the customer. And their demands have increased. Much of this increase has to do with the perception that managed care is low quality and does not care for the individual patient.

Healthcare delivery organizations can better meet patients' expectations if they develop applications that take care of patients at their bedside as well as those undergoing ambulatory care. Patients' use of the Internet in other areas of their life naturally leads to their desire to use the Internet in their own healthcare. All patients can benefit from such applications as on-line prescription renewal (e-prescribing), appointment scheduling, bill paying, specialists referring, etc. Some patients even benefit from tele-health applications that allow them to be monitored or checked remotely via a tele-health device and broadband access to the hospital's network. Patients could also research care and communicate with the staff. The list of potential home-based applications is endless.

Within the hospital itself, patients benefit from robust networking in various ways. Wireless solutions provide more accurate and timely care. Imagine the doctor or nurse accessing information immediately instead of running back and forth with files while the patient waits. Security solutions allow for more secure and private personal health records. Robust networking allows for the quicker transfer of large files and records.

3Com provides the networking solutions to make this a reality.