Applied Communication: Medical Practice Case Study

This case study explores the current network infrastructure of Feel Good Medical Practice and proposes improvements for the implementation of a wireless network. It discusses the issues with the current network, alternative solutions, and recommendations for the medical practice.

APPLIED COMMUNICATIONS
Applied Communication: Medical Practice Case Study
Muhammad Ahmed
Edith Cowan College
60021906

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APPLIED COMMUNICATIONS
Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................................2
Current network infrastructure....................................................................................................2
Proposed improvement in the network......................................................................................4
Discussion of the issues..............................................................................................................5
Alternative solution........................................................................................................................7
Recommendation for medical practice......................................................................................7
Conclusion......................................................................................................................................8
References.....................................................................................................................................9

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APPLIED COMMUNICATIONS
Introduction
The company Feel Good Medical Practice has a specialization in family medicine
and is known for providing health care service to the local communities. There are five
general practitioners, four administrative/ reception staffs, a practice manager and two
nurses. Currently the company have wired connection as their local area network and
have the need for addition of wireless network. The implementation of the wireless
network would help the users having smartphone, laptop to connect with the network for
accessing internet wirelessly. For the implementation of the wireless network the area of
coverage is analyzed. The benefits that the wireless network can provide are evaluated
for improving patient care and enhancing the access to the medical information. The
current infrastructure and the suggested improvement that can be made in the network
is described in the report. A discussion is given for the issues that can arise for the
adoption of the proposed design and given in the report. Research is also made for the
alternative solution and compared with the suggested improvement and
recommendations are given for the adoption of the proposed solution.
Current network infrastructure
Currently, the network uses outdated hardware and software resources for
enabling connectivity, operation, communication, and enterprise network. A
communication path is provided for allowing service between the process, service,
application and internet or external network. The current network comprises of router,
switch, LAN card and cables, and the network infrastructure is connected with cat 5
cables. All of the networks has a single subnet and a single router and switch are used
for connecting the end device with the network (Ganesh, Pahlavan & Zvonar, 2005).

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The router is connected with a DSL modem for enabling the company local network to
be connected with internet and enable the users to send and receive data packets in the
network.
A star topology is used for designing the local area network and each of the
endpoints of the network is connected to a central network device and it can be switch.
More cables are used in this topology and in case there is fault in any of the cables only
the particular device fails. The hub or the switch is used for transmitting the data
packets between different endpoints connected in the network. The current network
design can face limitations and bottleneck for transmission of data between all the
nodes at a time. The central device can also fail to cause failure of data transmission for
the central network (Press, 2016). The current network has problem because the

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departments cannot be managed separately and have no support to connect the
wireless devices with the company’s network. The modern telehealth devices need
wireless connection for transmission of gathered data for analysis of patient health
conditions. Bus topology is combined with the star for some of the extension points of
the building. This causes delay in transmission of data packets and results in
dissatisfaction among the group of user.
Proposed improvement in the network
The proposed network for Feel Good Medical Practice to develop the network by
subnetting each of the departments such that the wastage of IP address is reduced and
each of the nodes connected in the network is centrally managed. A layer three switch
is used and configured as a server switch such that it can share the VLAN information
for the department to the switch configured as VTP server. The server switch is
connected with the layer 2 switch and a separate VLAN is used for connecting the
wireless devices with the network. The use of the separate VLAN for connecting the

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different departments helps in increasing the bandwidth utilization and eliminates the
delay, packet loss in the network (Wang et al., 2018). All the configurations are made on
the network device that represents the distribution layer of the network. Routing jobs,
filtering of data packet and management of QoS policy are done in this layer.
The above network diagrams show that forwarding of data packet in the different
network location using a single link, use of high-speed connection such as Gigabyte
Ethernet is also done in this layer. The access layer of the network is used for
connecting the end device with the network. The layer works for reducing the cost per
port for connecting the work station and endpoints with the network of the company.
Each of the department switches is connected with a wireless access point, but it is
configured to access the wireless VLAN and enable transmission of data packet via the
channel. The usage of the network bandwidth and resources is also needed to be
monitored by installation of network monitoring tool in any of the host device connected
with the network (Rao, Bojkovic & Milovanovic, 2018). The monitoring of the network
helps in improving the security of the network and identify the bottleneck of the network.
Each of the devices connected in the access layer is connected with the distribution
layer device with multiple links.
Discussion of the issues
The current issue with the network solution is that it would need a data center
infrastructure and it would have the potential for combining with analytics such that the
network visualization helps in meet the forthcoming demands of the user. The hosts
connected in the network are able to send and receive data packets to any other device
or connect to the internet using the network. It is needed to be configured with Access

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Control Rules such that the sensitive areas of the network are not accessible to the
public network devices (Press, 2016). The network is prone to different types of network
attacks that may be from internal or external users. Since the network devices that are
needed for the development of the network are costly it is hard to maintain a backup
device for the network and the network can face a maximum duration of downtime in
case of any network failure. The proposed network also lacks any backup power plan.
The Wireless device connected in the network does not seamless roaming between the
different areas of the building since multiple access point with different SSID is used for
removing complexity of the network.
The issues of the network solution can be eliminated with the deployment of
firewalls and restricting the normal users to access to the server subnet. The server is
also needed to be configured for the management of access of the user and allow them
to use different service needed for the management of the work. Antivirus software is
also needed to be installed with each of the hosts for securing the network from different
types of attacks. The routers and the network device are needed to be kept password
protected such that any of the network configurations cannot be changed for allowing
the remote users to access the internal resources of the network (Palmer & Course
Technology, 2006). A strong encryption algorithm is needed to be applied for the
wireless access point and the separate login is needed to be maintained for each of the
wireless devices connected in the network. An IDS system is also needed to be
implemented for monitoring the usage of the network and secure the network from
illegal access. It can also help in tracking inactivity of the user and management of user
permission for improving network security. The router and switch configuration is

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needed to be backed up for restoring the network to its working stage in case of any
failure in the network.
Alternative solution
There are different alternative networking solutions that can be implemented for
reducing the cost of network deployment and meet the requirement of wireless access
to network devices. Two switches connected with a central router can be used for
connecting the hosts and wireless access point (Ganesh, Pahlavan, & Zvonar, 2005). In
this solution central and top-level connection points are replaced with sub me diary
devices and form a spoke and connect with the network device. In this type of network
there is no central failure point and if the link or network device is failed then the whole
network for the department would not stop working.
The second alternative solution for the removal of VLAN network design is the
development of a server based network where the server is used for handling the
network task. It has the ability for authenticating the user, printer management, storing
files and running different types of application. Since all the files are stored in the server
the files can be backed up easily and secured. It can also help in managing the faults in
the network and improve the performance of the network solution (Beasley, 2009). It
also needs network management for identification of the fault and enables QoS
monitoring for the network. This type of network is complex and need full time
administration for management of the service.

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Recommendation for medical practice
For the deployment of the network programmable network hardware resources
are needed to be used such that it can be reconfigured along with the growth of the
network. If there a situation of power outrage the network device would stop working
and collapse all the network data transmission and thus a power backup plan is needed
to be implemented. Fiber optics cables are needed to be used for connecting the router
and the layer 3 devices. The area of coverage of the wireless access point is needed to
be improved by installing the access point far from any interference and obstruction and
overlapping the boundary area of the coverage area. The network device is needed to
be compatible with IPv6 addressing scheme such that it can enable connection of the
telehealth IoT devices with the wireless router. The network is also needed to be
configured with dual stack IP address such that the end device can reach the network
with Ipv6 configuration and survive the future needs of the organization.
Conclusion
From the above report, it can be concluded that for the implementation of the
wireless network access the current network framework is needed to be transformed. Its
device is needed to be connected with redundant link and each of the networks for the
department is separated for easier management of the network. The security of the
network is needed to be kept high and the router is needed to be configured with firewall
protocols for management of the access of the network for users connected with
different VLAN. The wireless access point is needed to be managed and should operate
in both 2.4 and 5.0 GHz frequency for supporting all the wireless devices to access the
network. The wireless network is needed to be kept password-protected and the areas

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of coverage of the wireless signal should overlap with each other such that the risk of
bling spots is eliminated and all the devices can be connected to wireless access point.
The use of power over internet is needed to be used such that the needs of wiring for
connecting the access point are eliminated and it can be extended for increasing the
coverage area.

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References
Beasley, J. (2009). Networking (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Ganesh, R., Pahlavan, K., & Zvonar, Z. (2005). Wireless multimedia network
technologies (Kluwer international series in engineering and computer science).
New York: Kluwer Academic. (2005). Retrieved September 2, 2019
Palmer, M., & Course Technology, Inc. (2006). Hands-on networking
fundamentals (Networking). Boston, MA: Thomson/Course Technology.
Press, C. R. C. (2016). Wireless sensor networks: Current status and future trends.
CRC press.
Rao, K. R., Bojkovic, Z. S., & Milovanovic, D. A. (2018). Wireless multimedia
communications: convergence, DSP, QOS, and security. CRC Press.
Wang, D., Morrice, D. J., Muthuraman, K., Bard, J. F., Leykum, L. K., & Noorily, S. H.
(2018). Coordinated Scheduling for a Multi‐server Network in Outpatient Pre‐
operative Care. Production and Operations Management, 27(3), 458-479.