In today’s healthcare landscape, hospitals are under pressure to deliver better patient outcomes, improve financial performance, enhance safety and security, and streamline regulatory compliance—all while boosting staff productivity. Patient Engagement Systems (PES) can help meet these challenges but their success hinges on one critical factor: system integration.

Integration First: The Cornerstone of PES

According to MIT systems engineering Professor Olivier de Weck, system integration is “the process of deliberate assembly of the parts of the system into a functioning whole.” In PES, this means connecting disparate technologies—medical records, facility operational systems (e.g., lighting, HVAC), nurse call systems, clinical staff devices (e.g., tablets), BYO patient devices (e.g., phones, tablets, glucose meters, Fitbits), and more—into a unified, interoperable experience.

Integration is not just about plugging things in. It involves many interfaces, with challenges like managing multiple communication protocols such as BACnet, HL7, FHIR, and IP; uploading and testing operational software, perhaps from multiple vendors; and ensuring electronic health records (EHRs) connect to multiple downstream tools to share data securely and within regulatory compliance. This extends to patients’ devices, too. With more than 40% of patients using health apps on their phone or tablet and 30% owning monitoring devices, integration is no longer limited to hospital systems.

Done right, a well-implemented PES can transform both the patient experience and hospital operations. The PES platform enables personalized communication and care and has been shown to improve patient outcomes. On the facility side, these systems can enhance operational efficiency by providing data for analysis (e.g., premium clinical staff time used for rudimental administrative tasks) while preserving compliance with regulations like HIPAA.

The Tech Translator

A low-voltage integrator (LVI) is critical in PES deployments. Unlike traditional contractors, the LVI is deeply involved in the design, integration, testing, and deployment of technology systems. Health Systems undertaking PES projects can realize several important benefits by working with an LVI as their strategic tech partner. These include:

Avoiding duplication: Prevent duplication of systems and installation cost.
Ensuring interoperability: Seamlessly connect diverse technologies.
Maintaining cybersecurity: Protect systems within PES and hospital IT networks.
Preserving use cases: Keep valuable features from being engineered out during development.

Often contracted directly by the hospital’s IT department, the LVI doesn’t replace the design team but rather complements it. LVIs work closely with hospital leadership, clinical teams, and IT departments to define use cases that enhance patient experience and operational efficiency. They also set up training and simulations to ensure all stakeholders are prepared when the system goes live.

A typical LVI team includes four key roles:

Senior Solution Architect (SSA): Leads design, documents stakeholder needs, educates on costs, and focuses on smart hospital and intelligent patient room delivery.
BIM/Estimator Engineer: Supports early design, budgeting, and later commissioning.
Senior Application Engineer (SAE): Manages lab testing and integration, with expertise in healthcare tech, networking, and cybersecurity.
Software Development Team: Builds and tests custom applications.

Where Ideas Get Real

One of the most important aspects of a PES project is to build physical or virtual labs to test vendor equipment and APIs to ensure the elements work together as expected and achieve the needed outcomes. These labs:

Facilitate stakeholder workshops
Identify potential issues and enhancements
Verify ease of use for all users
Break down construction silos
Reduce capital and operational expenses
Capture data for analytics
Simplify maintenance and support

The lab remains functional through the hospital’s opening and lives on with the health system for continued maintenance, ongoing innovation, and troubleshooting supporting continuous improvement and system updates.

Smart Software, Smarter Systems

LVIs choose and develop software tailored to hospital needs through their development teams who are skilled in healthcare, smart buildings, GUI design, Node.js, JavaScript, XML, web services, etc. Rigorous testing and stakeholder validation ensures reliability.

Commission with Confidence

LVIs manage installation, wiring, and commissioning. They oversee multiple commissioning passes including:

Room-level wiring certification
Network connectivity and security
Software configuration verification
Final firmware and room readiness testing

The Integration Payoff

Successful PES implementation is not just about choosing the right technology—it’s about integrating it effectively and doing so with the right team as well. With a skilled LVI at the helm, hospitals can deliver personalized, secure, and efficient care that meets today’s demands and enables tomorrow’s possibilities.

Build the future of patient-centered care. Explore Schneider Electric’s integrated solutions for smarter healthcare delivery.

This blog was contributed by Warren Rosebraugh, Schneider Electric – Director Solution Architects.

The post Beyond the Interface: How Smart Integration Powers Patient-Centered Care appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.