Wireless vs. Lan for EMR

[Pinetree]

I am planning to build in a space for my new office. I would like to go EMR, as it would be my second office, and to integrate the 2 better.

My choice of EMR would be Medinotes chart plus. As they seem to be well accepted by other dermatologists - with ease of input.

They said that it can run on MS XP, but would be more secure with XP professional or Windows 2000/2003.

They said that wireless would be ok, until I decide to transmit large graphic files (ie. mole mapping stuff).

Should I prewire my office for LAN. Go with wireless. Do you think that wireless will eventually approach the speed of LAN.

How much should I expect for the server plus 3 terminals. Or for the server, plus 3 or 4 laptop. What do you think of the tablet pc's??

Their reps said that medinotes is based on C++, so that the essential elements of my charts can be transferred to another EMR in future date, if I chose.

Is this true, and is it costly to hire someone to convert your current EMR to another standard? :confused:

[BigDoc]

Should I prewire my office for LAN. Go with wireless. Do you think that wireless will eventually approach the speed of LAN.
All offices SHOULD have LAN CAT5 cables in every room, just like a regular phone jack. I may go as far as stating all new homes should have CAT5 cables preinstalled.


Is this true, and is it costly to hire someone to convert your current EMR to another standard?
You NEVER want to be caught in this predicament


How much should I expect for the server plus 3 terminals. Or for the server, plus 3 or 4 laptop. What do you think of the tablet pc's??
Question for Ozzie, where is he?

[Kursk]

I am planning to build in a space for my new office. I would like to go EMR, as it would be my second office, and to integrate the 2 better.

My choice of EMR would be Medinotes chart plus. As they seem to be well accepted by other dermatologists - with ease of input.

They said that it can run on MS XP, but would be more secure with XP professional or Windows 2000/2003.

They said that wireless would be ok, until I decide to transmit large graphic files (ie. mole mapping stuff).

Should I prewire my office for LAN. Go with wireless. Do you think that wireless will eventually approach the speed of LAN.

How much should I expect for the server plus 3 terminals. Or for the server, plus 3 or 4 laptop. What do you think of the tablet pc's??

Their reps said that medinotes is based on C++, so that the essential elements of my charts can be transferred to another EMR in future date, if I chose.

Is this true, and is it costly to hire someone to convert your current EMR to another standard? :confused:

coding languages do not guarantee interoperability or conversion between EMRs. Will you have access to the data model/database tables? And yes, whenever you have to ask about cost it will always be expensive. Trust me.

I agree with prewiring, it is usually not that expensive ($200-300 per network drop) and is a great fall back if wireless doesn't work for you. It is a bit safer as well as the physical medium is more secure than broadcasting packets through the air. Server cost is a little more difficult to predict as you haven't enumerated your requirements. I suggest you ask what type of server you need and check the specs against the dell web page. AS for tablets - they CAN work well but this is more about workflow and EMR functionality than tablet functions. Remember the tablet is a single point of failure (so better have a back up in case you drop it, need to recharge or it fails for some other reason). As a primary care doc, my preference has been for flat panel monitors with PCs in each room - which avoids the limitations noted above (i.e. device redundancy - no single point of failure). For most EMRs the PCs would be a thin client and the low end Dell computers would work fine - 3 with flat panels for roughly $2100, $300 more for XP pro.

Now if you want to build a Linux server AND your software will run on it .....