The Telecommunications Industry Association TR-42 Engineering Committee on User Premises Telecommunications Infrastructure is considering developing guidelines for the health care industry relative to providing a universal, generic telecommunications infrastructure.
The committee is now seeking interest for participation on this subject. It is inviting
interested parties, including users, designers and integrators, to contribute to the proposed project development.
The guidelines would act as a supplement to ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-B.1-2001 (Commercial Building Telecommunications Cabling Standard). This standard specifies a generic telecommunications cabling system for commercial buildings that will support a multi-product, multi-vendor environment. It also provides information that can be used for the design of telecommunications products for commercial enterprises.
The guidelines would enable the planning and installation of a structured cabling system for health care facilities. Installation of cabling systems during building construction or renovation is significantly less expensive and less disruptive than after the building is occupied.
The TIA has identified that additional guidance relative to the use of generic structured cabling for the various types of systems and applications encountered in a health care facility could provide immense value to the health care user community, as well as the service providers that interact within these facilities. Further information would also be provided to address the environmental considerations that must be made to accommodate the structured cabling system to the unique environmental conditions of a health care facility.
Health care buildings, campuses and other facilities can range from the historical to the most modern structures. They vary in cleanliness, temperature and size and can be single buildings, campuses or an amalgamation of many phases and wings. The guidelines would address both clinical and non-clinical applications, as well as public and enterprise networks.
The systems that can be accommodated using structured cabling can include but are not limited to voice, data and video, mobile applications, patient monitoring and diagnostic imaging.
The TIA is based in Arlington, VA. For more information contact Herb Congdon, chairman of TIA Subcommittee TR-42.1 Commercial Building Cabling, at [email protected].
