Caring for patients is the highest priority for healthcare providers, and it must be done with or without effective technology. However, a reliable communications system goes a long way toward helping nurses and other medical staff keep their patients safe. When instant access to critical communications can be the difference between life and death, how can you prepare to migrate your voice network to the cloud?
In this blog, we’ll discuss the unique challenges medical facilities face when preparing for a cloud migration and how ECG can help keep patients safe throughout the process.
What Cloud Migration Challenges Do Medical Facilities Face?
While many organizations have little trouble moving their voice networks to the cloud, hospitals and other medical facilities face unique cloud migration challenges. Some of these challenges include:
Minimizing Disruptions to Patient Care
A poorly-planned hospital cloud migration can disrupt patient care by interrupting access to critical communications for emergency departments like cardiac monitoring, the ICU, and more. Nurses and other providers depend on voice networks 24/7 – anything less can put patients' lives at risk.
Identifying and Prioritizing Device Maintenance
Most cloud providers simply switch off an organization’s phone lines during a cloud migration. With medical facilities, providers must have industry knowledge to identify which devices they can shut off at what times. Coordinating system maintenance for hospitals isn’t simple, considering there is specialized equipment and thousands of phone lines to account for.
Maintaining Access to Legacy Platforms
When upgrading to a cloud-based communications system, many healthcare providers find they can no longer access applications or software they rely on for patient care. Finding a provider that can integrate new voice systems with the legacy tools hospital employees are familiar with is essential for a seamless cloud migration.
ECG: Your Partner in Patient-First Medical Cloud Migration
ECG has years of experience helping medical facilities migrate to the cloud, including the University of Virginia’s medical system and the Orange Medical Clinic. We can support your provider with specialized industry knowledge to ensure your cloud migration doesn’t prevent staff from caring for patients. Trust our experts to:
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Strategically plan your medical cloud migration to ensure nurses and other providers have 24/7 access to a nearby phone.
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Design software upgrades and continuous performance improvement – without shutting down your entire voice network for maintenance.
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Integrate specialized devices and equipment into your new communications system.
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Provide technical engineering resources to help you keep an existing voice platform, even if your cloud provider can’t integrate it during migration.
With ECG’s help, the University of Virginia Medical Clinic was able to keep its nurses equipped with wearable wireless communication devices. We integrated this custom system during the cloud migration to ensure nurses and other staff could continue to use these best-in-class devices to provide patient care.
Moving to a secure, cloud-based system isn’t impossible with the right support. If you’re ready to upgrade your communications, ECG is here to help. Schedule a call today to discuss your specific needs and explore your options for a patient-first, seamless hospital cloud migration.