Glendale Adventist Medical Center (GAMC) in Glendale, California has improved the experience of its hospital patients by delivering Email and Web access in patient rooms, while saving significant information technology (IT) maintenance and energy costs.

The hospital installed personal computing stations in 65 patient rooms of its new West Tower, enabling patients to surf the Internet, communicate with friends and family through social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter, and research medical information about their condition.

The hospital estimates that the energy-efficient “thin client” computer monitors save 60 percent in electricity costs versus stand-alone PCs. The hospital estimates that the new desktops have saved 98 percent of the IT costs that would have been spent maintaining normal PCs.

GAMC patients have responded enthusiastically to the desktops, and the hospital sees this service as a way to attend to the patients’ emotional needs and stand out from competitors. Some patients use the computers to blog about their hospital stay or update CarePages, popular patient Web sites that connect patients with chronic illnesses to their friends and families.

The hospital estimates that the energy-efficient “thin client” computer monitors save 60 percent in electricity costs versus stand-alone PCs. The hospital estimates that the new desktops have saved 98 percent of the IT costs that would have been spent maintaining normal PCs.

GAMC says it also plans to extend its use of virtual desktops for employee and clinical use in the future. For more than 100 years, GAMC in Glendale, California, has been on the leading edge of medical technology. The hospital offers a wide range of advanced services, including many that are normally available only in major university-affiliated hospitals.

Using virtualized Linux desktops has kept the costs of the patient service low while maintaining a high level of privacy and security. Updates and maintenance to the software can be made on a centralized server by the hospital’s IT staff, while no data is left on the local client monitor after the patient checks out of the hospital room. SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop from Novell is the operating system that virtualizes the 65 desktops. NoMachine, creator and global distributor of NX desktop and application delivery software, provides complete and efficient remote access. An IBM System x3650 server provides the back-end computing system, and IBM experts also advised GAMC on the project’s design.

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