The modern world runs 24/7. Industries like hospitals and telecommunications run continuously. To support this pace, IT companies have looked beyond off-the-shelf consumer products, as they’re simply not built for such extended use.
Hot-swappable batteries have proven to be a solution. They not only keep essential computers up and running 24/7 but also expand their scope with new capabilities like increased mobility.
A Hot-Swappable Battery: What It Is and How It Works
Simply, a hot-swappable battery is a power source that can be exchanged (swapped) from a device without interrupting its normal operation.
Hot-swappable batteries perform this feat using dual sets of contacts: data and power. When the battery is first inserted into the device, the data set starts communicating between the two. Once that’s established, the power set sends electricity from the battery to the device.
The process works in reverse during a hot swap: the power set stops sending electricity, followed by a break in communication from the data set.
There is no need to shut down the device during the swap.
Hot-Swappable Battery: Applications and Uses
Hot-swappable battery technology has found applications across various industries. Two of note include:
Industrial Sector
Manufacturing companies, fieldwork, and warehouse management are just a few of the businesses that fall under this broad category. Many have jobs where employees can’t access outlets to power their rugged industrial tablets due to time or distance. (Example: out in the field.) Hot-swappable batteries allow them to keep going without losing productivity.
Healthcare Field
Hospitals and similar facilities are busy places with many open 24/7. Like industrial workers, medical staff rely on their similar medical computer tablets with hot-swap batteries to complete their rounds without losing productivity.
Many employees rely on non-powered medical carts as well. This setup attaches an all-in-one medical PC onto a workstation-on-wheels. Hot-swappable batteries power the computer and any accessories. Other configurations combine a medical-grade monitor with hot-swap battery capability and a thin computer client.
Regardless of the setup, personnel of all shifts can continuously use the cart at their location(s), keeping it powered by simply exchanging spent batteries with fresh ones. Contrast that to powered medical carts, which must be periodically plugged into an outlet to recharge their batteries, which can take several hours.
Operating Rooms
According to a survey by BMC Anesthesiology, hardware issues remain one of the top 5 common pain points of anesthesiologists in the operating room. Furthermore, when participants were asked what aspects of their hardware impacted them negatively the most, 25% reported the existence of cluttered cables while another 20% commented that the weight of their monitoring devices and their lack of maneuverability were the most impactful.
Hot swappable batteries address both of these concerns. Firstly, they lighten the weight of COWs by cutting the need for heavy battery-powered carts. Secondly, they eliminate the need for power cables connecting to an outlet. Furthermore, battery powered medical computers can also power externals and peripherals that are connected to them. This eliminates even more cord clutter and even opens the door to barcode scanning applications that allow surgeons to scan surgical tools for quick confirmations on whether or not they have been properly sanitized.
Telehealth
Telehealth applications have boomed in the year 2020 as several appointments and care practices have transitioned to being conducted over video calls. And while this has surely enhanced the availability of care, attention still needs to be placed on the privacy of these conversations that take place over phone calls. Whether it be tele-triaging, general remote check ins, or contact tracing interviews, these conversations are filled with personal details and patient-doctor-confidentiality needs to be maintained.
It's here where we see the mobility afforded by hot swappable batteries come into play again. Nurses, clinicians, doctors, and surgeons can all easily wheel lightweight COW stations into secluded rooms or telehealth appointment offices in order to have these private conversations with their patients. Furthermore, when it comes to creating a proper remote patient monitoring program, there are several peripheral devices that often require their own power sources. A hot swap battery enabled computer can have all of these peripherals plugged into and powered by the computer itself, allowing for providers to continue providing remote care both privately, and effectively, and all while eliminating clutter.
The Financial Benefit of a Hot Swap Battery Solution
Battery-powered carts are more than bulky, they're costly as well. A recent study on COW station implementation by the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health highlighted that most battery powered, mobile workstations cost on average over $3,000 for a single unit. And these prices don't even include the computer or peripherals that would need to be loaded onto the cart. Couple that with the fact that this money spent would still require care providers to keep their carts plugged into an outlet for several hours to recharge the cart battery AND the fact that the cart would be much heavier and harder to maneuver (a pain point emphasized and lamented in both the nursing and surgical fields) and it becomes hard to make a case for battery powered carts.
A hot swappable battery-powered computer, on the other hand, eliminates the need for the powered cart altogether, allowing facilities to opt instead for much cheaper non-powered carts. In many cases, a facility can purchase a hot swap battery powered computer for cheaper than a battery powered cart and commercial computer and use the savings to buy extra batteries and battery charging stations. The NCBI study even confirms this by reading the invoices of a facility that decided to switch from traditional battery-powered cart stations to leaner, hot-swap enabled devices - explaining that the former costed nearly 80% more per workstation.
Hot Swappable Battery Computers Open the Door to Many Other Innovations
Hot swappable battery computers aren't a specific tech innovation with a specific use case. Rather, they're optimized workstations for healthcare providers that open the door for several other innovative programs. Whether it be EHR note-taking practices that were all the rage in the past, telehealth applications that are booming today, or the next future innovation to rock healthcare, hot swap workstations make their adoption all the easier by streamlining the basest parts of every provider's work day. For more information on battery-powered medical computers and tablets and how they can advance your particular practice, contact an expert from Cybernet today.