Medical News Today -- IT professionals in healthcare now confront a new challenge: the convergence of information technology and medical devices. As rapid advances in technology blur the boundary between medical devices and computers, IT professionals must deal not only with mission-critical IT systems but also with life-critical medical devices. And, as the saying goes, failure is not an option. Infusion pumps include microchips that store critical patient data that must then be transmitted accurately across hospital networks, for example, and radio-frequency identification (RFID) devices now threaten to interfere with the proper functioning of medical equipment. And the list of IT-intensive medical devices grows by the day.
