The specific aim of this proposal is to build a new local area network and connect it to the Internet so that the 300 physicians, 1,200 full-time employees, including approximately 230 nurses, and 55 residents/interns/medical students associated with Long Beach Medical Center (LBMC), its patients, and community residents will be able to access the Internet. While the ultimate goal is to develop a network that encompasses the entire medical center, three locations on the LBMC campus will be wired initially: 1) the hospital, located at 455 East Bay Drive; 2) an ancillary building, 249 East Park Avenue, the site of LBMC?s departments of management information systems, finance, patient billing, and home care; and 3) the nursing home, the Komanoff Center for rehabilitation and Geriatric Medicine. Such a connection will: 1) enable physicians and staff to access state-of-the-art information to improve the quality of patient care at LBMC by accessing remote databases, libraries, Grateful Med, DOCLINE, and Loansome Doc; transferring files and images; and facilitating consultations with colleagues around the world through electronic mail; 2) provide continuing education opportunities and training to health care professionals affiliated with LBMC, including physicians, nurses, and residents/interns/medical students, and to health care professionals in the community; and 3) provide patients, their families, and community members with Internet resources that will enable them to learn more about preventive health, specific health care conditions, and health care services available in the community. Eventually, Internet access will also promote efficient, accurate, and timely transfers of information as LBMC broadens its geographical base by forming alliances with other health care partners and will enable LBMC to pursue additional methods of electronic commerce, thereby improving efficiency while decreasing costs.
