Educational IT solution for hospital precinct

Queensland universities, including UQ, in partnership with Mater Health Services Brisbane have launched an innovative, low cost IT solution at the Mater precinct in South Brisbane with the aim of improving teaching, learning and research outcomes.

Using eduroam (EDUcational ROAMing), staff and students placed at Mater can use their own wireless enabled devices and university user credentials to gain access to their home university’s IT resources via Mater’s wireless network and the Internet.

Mater Health Services IT Director Peter Nomikos said deploying eduroam over the Mater network, virtually extended each university’s own networks to encompass the Mater precinct.

“This solution offers ease of use, greater mobility, and more flexibility and provides greater opportunities for collaboration, especially in research, between universities and Mater Health Services,” Mr Nomikos said.

In 2008 there were approximately 740 staff and student placements at Mater from courses including Medicine, Nursing and Midwifery, Pharmacy, and a range of allied health fields. Research institutes represented include the Centre for Medical Diagnostic Technologies in Queensland (MedTeQ) and the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation (IHBI).

Speaking at the official launch of the service, this week, Nick Tate, Chair of the QRNO and departing Director of UQ Information Technology Services described this as a fantastic example of the benefits of collaboration.

“This joint project allows students and staff of Queensland universities to seamlessly use the wireless network at the Mater hospital and provides easy access for Mater staff who are university students, or who hold clinical appointments, to university systems.

"None of this would have been possible without close collaboration between univ
ersities and the Mater Hospital under the auspices of the QRNO Health Research Access Project.”

The deployment is being coordinated by the Health Research Access Project, an initiative of the Queensland Regional Network Organisation (QRNO) to improve networking access for university staff and students placed at hospital precincts.

Membership of the QRNO comprises all Queensland universities, Australian Catholic University, Australian Institute of Marine Science, CSIRO and Southern Cross University.