Children's Hospital Boston | Children's News Online

01.31.03

Web opens window to the world

rmen Arustamyan and Beth Belanger, both 12, have had longer hospital stays than most Children’s patients. Both are on the Stem Cell and Hematopoietic Transplant unit, where patients often stay for six weeks or longer and can’t leave the unit, which is environmentally controlled to prevent infection.

But now, thanks to a project that gives patients access to the Internet right in their rooms, Beth, Armen and other patients and families on 6 West can be in better touch with friends and family, stay more connected to schoolwork, and enjoy computer games and other downloads.

Armen Arustamyan

With in-room Internet, Armen has used the Web to play games and send instant messages to his brother. And though he can’t leave the unit to go to the library, Armen says it’s easy to find help with his homework: “I just go to Google.com.”

Beth uses her connection to keep in touch by e-mail with her brothers, who live in Georgia. She enjoys her favorite Web sites—Disney’s Zoog.com and Nickelodeon’s Nick.com—and her family posts photos and updates to Beth’s Web page, where friends and family can check in and also post messages for Beth. (Children’s partners with TLContact to provide similar Web service to all patient families.)

“This contact has also been great for the family,” says Beth’s mom, Cathy Belanger. Cathy did her Christmas shopping from Beth’s room and took care of the family’s banking online, and her husband used the connection to stay in touch with work. “When you spend six weeks in the hospital, you get creative with what you do on the Web,” Cathy says.

The Web access patients on 6 West now enjoy is part of a pilot project jointly created by the Information Services Department and Patient Care Services. If the project proves successful, it may serve as a model for other inpatient areas.

Although plugging into the net may seem simple enough, Matt Horman, director of Research, Clinical and Administrative Services, says ISD had to overcome serious security risks with the project. “In order to avoid compromising the integrity of Children’s computer systems, the department re-engineered the network infrastructure, separating patient Web access from the hospital’s internal information systems,” says Horman.

Web filtering software is also being installed to manage some of the content patients may access, and the hard drives on the patient computers are easily removed, so if a patient downloads a virus or crashes the computer, swapping the used drive for a clean one is as easy as changing the sheets on a bed.

“With its lengthy patient stays and addition of network connections and computers to the rooms, 6 West was the best place to launch the Internet access pilot,” says Patti Branowicki, MS, RN, vice president of Medicine Patient Services.

The pilot has been popular with patients and families, according to Anita Trombley, CCLS, the Child Life specialist on the unit. “Internet access is one of the first things that many families ask about. They come here from all over the world, and now it’s so much easier for them to keep in touch with friends and family.”—CM