By Jin Gang, Chief of Information Department, Third Affiliated Hospital of Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Director of Smart Hospital Construction Office

In order to improve the level of medical services and patients' medical experience, the Third Affiliated Hospital of Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, where I work, launched the East Campus Expansion Plan in 2023. As the person in charge of information construction, from the beginning, I was trapped in the dilemma of "space" and "efficiency".

"Colored Light" achieves a balance between "space" and "efficiency"

The East Campus Building of the hospital was originally a hotel and was built around 2000. Before the renovation, we found during the on-site survey that the weak current well space was extremely small and it was difficult to get power, so the cabinets could not be placed, and the environment required for traditional twisted pair cable construction was not available. If traditional twisted pair cables were used for construction, one "ward" would need to be occupied on each floor to be used as a weak current well. In this way, more than a dozen wards would be "expropriated", which is a huge waste of resources for the hospital's operating efficiency. At the same time, we also faced the problem of tight construction period. Traditional twisted pair cable construction takes about a month, while the total construction period of our entire building's weak current transformation project is only one month, so it is impossible for the network construction to occupy all of it.

I had to find a more efficient solution, as I had to solve the "space" limitation of the weak-current well, ensure that the number of beds was not affected, and not affect the normal opening of the new hospital to receive patients.

Our department held several demonstrations on the current mainstream network construction plans, and finally chose the more advanced Ethernet color optical network construction plan to complete this basic network construction.

The color light technology in this solution completely realizes the passiveness of the weak current shaft on the floor, solving the problem of small weak current shaft space and difficulty in obtaining and supplying electricity. At the same time, the weak current room is passive, which eliminates a lot of operation and maintenance work, greatly improving the operation and maintenance efficiency of the hospital. At the same time, there is no need to occupy more than a dozen "wards" for use in the weak current room, which greatly saves the hospital's ward resources. In terms of construction period, the characteristics of minimalist light rapid deployment shortened the construction period from one month to 15 days, and the construction efficiency increased by 1 times, ensuring the smooth opening of the new hospital area.

New business launch is flexible and efficient

I used to wonder: Why do many colleagues recommend Ether Color Light? After using it for a period of time, I feel its charm more clearly.

Previously, we faced many challenges brought by the traditional twisted pair deployment architecture. Every time a new service was introduced, it was necessary to rewire the weak current well, which prolonged the service launch cycle and occasionally required the service to be suspended for construction, affecting the daily operation of the hospital and the patient's medical experience.

In the new campus, the application of color optical wiring technology allows optical fibers to be directly extended to each room, and indoor miniaturized switches are used as network access layers. To add new services, only expansion modules need to be added to achieve business expansion with physical isolation between the internal and external networks. This design saves bridge space, reduces wiring complexity, and provides a flexible and efficient solution for adding new network terminal access.

In terms of operation and maintenance management, whether adding access switches or replacing faulty equipment, it can be plug-and-play, and the equipment can be put online without any configuration. The optical link fault monitoring and early warning and network service planning functions of Ethernet Color Light have helped us significantly improve the operation and maintenance efficiency and ensure the continuity of diagnosis and treatment services.

The renovation results of the East Campus expansion area were awarded as Class III case results in the 2023 "Technical Specifications for the Construction of Ethernet All-Optical Networks in Smart Parks" application case collection activity hosted by the Green Construction and Intelligent Building Branch of the China Construction Industry Association. This honor is a recognition of our continuous exploration and progress in the field of smart medical care. Looking forward to the future, we will continue to rely on advanced network infrastructure to strengthen software and hardware construction, provide a better medical environment for patients, continue to maintain the leading provincial-level TCM anorectal specialty hospital in China, and contribute to the realization of the Healthy China strategy and the promotion of the development of traditional Chinese medicine.