Learning Anything?
What have you learned lately? The amount of available information and the rate at which it is flowing these days is mind boggling to me. I sometimes wonder how big our brains might be in 100 years. Perhaps it’s more appropriate to wonder how small (of a computer chip) they will be. In any event, learning requires focus to be effective. At EDI, we strive to focus our learning on new trends, new solutions, and new opportunities related to communications, security, and audio-visual technology that bring lasting value to our clients.
In this EDItion, our content is focused through this “Lens of Learning.” For those of you involved in healthcare, our feature topic addresses the recent exploration of the connection between good acoustics and faster patient recovery in hospitals. Having attended a number of national conferences recently, we offer brief “recaps” of ASHE PDC 2009 and AFCOM’s Data Center World, including a link to EDI’s presentation on “Healthcare IT Lessons Learned” from ASHE PDC.
In the spirit of learning and trying new things, we’d like to introduce the twe-EDI (TWEE-dee). We occasionally come across articles and other tid-bits of information in the world of technology systems that might be of interest to you too. We’d like to get them into your hands sooner than when the next EDItion goes to press. If you would be interested in receiving these twe-EDI’s, please browse to http://twitter.com/ediltd and follow us! Maybe we’ll learn about something together…
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Sincerely, Kevin Hebblethwaite, CPSM President |
Noise Control in Hospitals
By Brian Murphy, CTS
Several recent studies show that high levels of noise in a hospital can slow patient recovery, cause staff errors and even increase the amount of medication required to control pain. Numerous factors lead to high noise levels in a hospital including, but not limited to: medical equipment alarms; reverberant corridors and rooms; walls, ceilings and floors that are not designed to adequately stop sound transmission; noisy HVAC systems; frequent overhead pages and loud conversation. The presence of any of these factors can lead to an escalating cycle of noise, as staff must raise their voices and turn up equipment alarms in order to be heard above the din.
H.264 Compression Technology
By Jason Barton, EIT
H.264 compression will allow us to stream and record the same video we do today with MJPEG, but without losing any quality. Another advantage is it uses about 1/10th of the bandwidth and storage as MJPEG does. This will allow us to greatly reduce our storage requirements (less hard drives = less money = less maintenance).
Project Update
Sidra Medical and Research Center
Doha, Qatar
Recently, EDI, Ltd. was tasked with assisting Sidra Medical and Research Center in selecting a clinical information system. Specifically, EDI was responsible for evaluating the impact of selected clinical information systems on the IT infrastructure, including the data center, network, and storage.
New Featured Project
Midland Memorial Hospital
Midland, Texas
Midland Memorial Hospital currently operates on two campuses known as the Main Campus and West Campus. They plan to strategically expand and align the services on the Main Campus. The work on the Main Campus will include a new patient tower, both heavy and cosmetic remodeling of the existing hospital, and central plant renovations. Collectively this work includes a total of 329,000 square feet of programmed space.
Conference Recap: ASHE PDC 2009 and AFCOM 2009
ASHE PDC 2009
In early March EDI, Ltd attended, exhibited and spoke at the American Society for Healthcare Engineering’s (ASHE) 2009 International Conference and Exhibition on Health Facility Planning, Design, and Construction (PDC) in Phoenix, Arizona. Those in attendance from EDI were Joe Leger, RCDD, Christian Lindmark, RCDD, and Don Kinser, PE.
This was EDI’s 5th year as an exhibitor at ASHE PDC. This year’s exhibition was slightly different for EDI from years past, in that we unveiled our new exhibit booth.
Around the Office
EDI is working with a group of students from Emory University’s MBA program on project management and collaboration.
