Citrix Case Study: Saint Francis Hospital

Citrix Case Study: Saint Francis Hospital

Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center is an acute care hospital located in Hartford, Connecticut. Since its founding by the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Chambéry in 1897, Saint Francis has grown into New England’s largest Catholic hospital, with 617 beds and major clinical concentrations in oncology, cardiology, orthopedics, rehabilitation, and women and infant services.

The challenge: Consolidating 34 legacy applications into a single EMR Platform and addressing their Mobile device risk growth.

As an early innovator in the healthcare industry, they were already deploying computerized physician entry (CPOE) systems far back as 20 years ago.  This was at the time before patient management software were an American healthcare standard.  At present however, the IT leaders in the organization have recognized that they need to simplify and consolidate their 34 legacy applications into a single unified electronic medical record (EMR) platform if they want to continue to be ahead of the industry.  This is especially challenging when considering that a majority of the hospital’s doctor’s work in independent offices.

The Solution: Deploying a new EMR system across thousands of workstations and mobile devices

Saint Francis had already been using Citrix technology for years, specifically Citrix XenDesktop and Citrix XenApp (now VirtualDesktop and VirtualApp respectively).  These products helped Saint Francis with their on-demand application delivery for both their physical and virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI).  However, the main problem they encountered after they did a preliminary security audit was that there were security gaps due to the approach they took with mobile devices.  So to ensure that they kept their users empowered with the choice of their own device, they decided to also use XenMobile to help lessen the security threats. “When XenMobile arrived on the scene, we were able to get all the features we wanted, along with a simple licensing package from a vendor we already trusted.” Says Paul Dzierwinski, manager of systems administration at Saint Francis.

After 18 months of preparation, the hospital was successful in transferring their 1.3 million patient records in a smooth rollout.

Key Benefits

Helping ensure the timely launch of a new enterprise-wide platform

  • The team checked with all workstations to ensure that during launch period that each endpoint would run smoothly.

Facilitating the exchange of patient information and reducing medical errors

  • The streamlined EMR system helped convenience customers so that patient records could be shared securely via the system to the intended recipient, be it hospitals, doctors or healthcare entities.

Enabling anytime, anywhere access to EMR data as part of a larger BYOD initiative

  • The bring-your-own-device (BYOD) initiative has helped end users have a seamless experience while making sure that Saint Francis has a degree of control for security, being able to wipe a lost phone is one of the possibilities.

To learn more about Citrix products, you can visit our product page or you may contact us at 893-9515 and we would be happy to help you!

New updates for XenApp and XenDesktop for November 2017

New updates for XenApp and XenDesktop for November 2017

November was a great month for Citrix users as updates for XenApp and XenDesktop, which you can download now with the release of patch v.7.16. Updates (as well as compliance information) for the ever popular XenApp and XenDesktop 7.15 LTSR was also added just this November.  Below is a summary of some of the new updates:

User Experience

Significant user experience enhancements for both XenApp and Xendesktop Service and on-premises deployments in v.7.16, which was first introduced on our cloud services:

Real time user experience optimizations with Adaptive Transport

Only Citrix can dynamically adjust its HDX Adaptive Transport technology in mid-session to adapt to changing network conditions in real time to deliver the best possible high-definition user experience.

Introducing full browser content redirection, not just HTML5 video redirection

 Extending the capabilities of our content redirection technology, XenApp and XenDesktop now enable the full contents of a web browser, not just the HTML5 video, to be rendered on the client for maximum server scalability and optimal user experience.

Enhanced multi-monitor graphics quality with Citrix Receiver for Windows

Many users leverage multiple monitors across their virtual app and desktop sessions to optimize productivity. Now Citrix Receiver for Windows 4.10 makes multi-monitor configuration easier than ever.

Extending the power of Windows 10 S with Citrix Receiver

Windows 10 S is a streamlined OS for security and superior performance that only runs applications delivered from Microsoft Store. This means many existing Win32 apps will not run locally on Windows 10 S. The most secure way to get access to these business-critical Win 32 apps is through Citrix XenApp.

Improved graphics experience with H.265 and integrated 3D Pro VDA installer

With ever-increasing improvements to video resolution, Citrix is extending its codec capabilities by incorporating H.265 codec into XenApp and XenDesktop Platinum edition. By leveraging new H.265 hardware with XenApp and XenDesktop with NVIDIA GPUs, you will notice improved graphics performance while reducing bandwidth consumption by up to 50%.

Expanding our industry-first Windows Continuum virtual desktop experience

 XenDesktop, with XenServer, was the first and only desktop virtualization solution to deliver Windows Continuum experience with Windows 10 virtual desktops. Now, XenDesktop is expanding its industry-leading Windows Continuum virtual desktop technology by enabling a Windows 10 virtual desktop to recognize when the user switches from a physical tablet to a physical desktop and automatically toggle the virtual desktop between tablet and desktop mode.

To read more about the November updates, please visit the original article here!  You may also learn more about Citrix on our product page or directly contact us at 893-9515.