How to Avoid Data Corruption in Hospitals: Prevention Starts with Awareness

Technology in any industry is always subject to Murphy’s Law; if a problem can arise, it will. That’s the lay of the land in tech, and there’s no avoiding it. However, awareness of data corruption in hospitals and being prepared with the right hardware helps any facility combat whatever technological mishaps might come around the corner, whether it’s mishandling equipment, faulty machinery, cybersecurity threats, drive failure in medical grade computers, or even an individual accessing the wrong data. Patient information is on the rise for the black market and is considered more “valuable” than credit card numbers. Individuals can access past healthcare records and use patient information to order medicine—which can lead to a host of other problems. In order to minimize these problems, it starts with awareness. Beyond that, here’s what’s in place to ensure data corruption in hospitals and cybersecurity breaches are kept to a minimum.

RAID Array

Redundancy is one of the primary keys to keeping data alive, especially in a highly mobile environment where hardware can (and will be) mishandled. Granted solid state drives have been more reliable in the past because of fewer moving parts, but it’s important to have redundancy in medical grade computers regardless of drive condition or health. Dual solid state drives are a necessity to avoid data corruption in hospitals. If a drive fails, the secondary drive is available to copy to a replacement drive during downtime windows. Plus, solid state is a technology that doesn’t require defragmentation management—maintenance doesn’t have to run defragmentation software to pull computers out of commission. Using this technology keeps data throughput high, time on medical grade computer maintenance low, computer profiles slimmer, and patient records more secure.

Auto-Shut Down with Hot-Swappable Batteries

Mobile environment computers can’t compromise with stationary power or faulty batteries. The wrong battery-powered tablet might shut off immediately on low power instead of auto-saving work and shutting down. A computer plugged into a wall outlet can potentially turn into a tripping hazard, especially if the machine needs to be relocated around patients. And if someone actually does trip and pull the plug out of the outlet, and unexpected system shutdown can cause data corruption in hospitals and their integrated systems, unless those systems are equipped with redundancy power systems or are battery powered “hot swap” computers. These medical grade computers are designed to run on multiple Lithium-Ion batteries that can be swapped out while the computer is still running. Alerts will notify a user when battery power is below a certain threshold and can even initiate a system shutdown before complete power loss to avoid any system corruption. Over time, the efficacy of a Lithium-Ion battery will wear down as will any rechargeable battery, and eventually must be replaced. However, having extra batteries on hand will ensure power downtime will be virtually timeless.

Cybersecurity as an Utmost in Importance

The wireless data transmissions of a hospital are constant, transferring files between several computers at high speeds. That’s why a lot of systems operate with Intel-certified WiFi and Bluetooth wireless modules so data transmissions run with more secure wireless transmissions. It’s important to have the best hardware to ensure data bouncing between mobile environment computers stays intact. As before, data transmission is never perfect, but using the best technology available to healthcare professionals ensures top encryption for wireless file transmissions. If data is ever captured for use outside the medical environment, encryption ensures that it can’t be read for any purpose, whether malicious or not.

There’s Always the Human Element

Data corruption in hospitals can happen with something we’re all prone to—accidental dropping and damage. It’s important to have data storage shock-mounted in case of these slight mishaps, but, as before, mobile environment computers often have a secondary layer of protection against accidental damage using a RAID array for storage. Even if there’s significant damage to storage on a mobile environment computer, data redundancy is ensured so loss is kept at a low rate of chance. Solid state drives have improved security benefits over older platter drives—without moving parts, drive information is less prone to loss because of better manufacturing trends. To put simply: we all drop things and that causes damage. Solid state drives break less.

The good news is that Cybernet’s medical grade computers offer all of these features. These computers are built from the ground up with several real-world aspects in mind, data corruption being one of them. Take a look at what we have to customize for your medical staff needs and put us to the test. Combining higher-quality manufacturing for solid state drives, higher encryption with Intel-certified WiFi/Bluetooth modules, and never-off, hot-swappable Lithium-Ion batteries, Cybernet’s computers are prime for the medical environment, boasting a less than 2% failure rate in real world application.