Even in the digital world, the healthcare industry is still largely dominated by physical documents and paper-based workflows—making print management super important to (ahem!) healthy IT infrastructure.
We all know that doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals are often run off their feet, so the last thing they need is to be wasting time at a printer trying to get a prescription or healthcare record for a patient.
But managing multiple print servers, drivers, and queues in a large healthcare system is a constant battle. Here’s how to streamline your printing infrastructure and achieve greater efficiency and control.
The Impact of Fragmented Print Infrastructure on Healthcare Operations
The work of medical professionals often involves moving between different offices, clinics, and specialist care centers. In a big healthcare organization, this might look like thousands of printers and multifunction devices spread across multiple buildings and locations.
To make this large scale printing environment even more complicated, staff often work from their own devices with a range of different operating systems. It can be incredibly challenging for IT teams not only to install new printers and print queues, but to maintain the level of visibility and control they need.
Ensuring Compliance and Security in Print Management: A Healthcare Perspective
Healthcare organizations deal with HUGE amounts of sensitive health information for their patients—unfortunately, this makes them a prime target for cybercriminals who can use this valuable data to commit fraud, blackmail, and identity theft. And the consequences can be severe: the average cost of a data breach in the healthcare sector is almost $11 million!
There are strict regulatory requirements for how healthcare companies manage patient health information, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the EU and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in the USA. So naturally, compliance and device security are top priorities when it comes to handling printed materials such as patient records and pharmaceutical scripts.
Centralized Print Server Management: A Solution to Simplify Complex Print Environments
The simplest way to centralize and streamline complex enterprise printing is by leveraging print management software, particularly in organizations with multiple locations and diverse printer models. By consolidating printer management into one platform, IT administrators gain end-to-end visibility over the entire print ecosystem—so they know exactly who is printing what, right across the organization.
Centralized print server management allows all print resources to be controlled from a single location, no matter how many printers and devices are in the fleet. This simplifies workflows, saves time, and minimizes waste, leading to a boost in productivity and operational efficiency.
Standardizing Print Drivers Across Multiple Servers: Benefits and Best Practices
IT teams can struggle to keep up with the demand of managing thousands of printers and users, given the amount of time and effort it takes to deploy print drivers and set up queues. Print driver standardization is an effective strategy for optimizing a large-scale printing environment with multiple departments and locations. It means that printers can communicate with devices using a standardized set of commands and features—creating a reliable and seamless printing experience.
To standardize your print drivers, we recommend:
- Establishing consistent user profiles, authentication methods, and access controls
- Implementing uniform security settings and print policies
- Downloading drivers directly from the manufacturer and update regularly
- Testing drivers in a controlled environment before deployment
- Using universal print drivers where possible
Implementing Print Queues That Enhance Workflow Efficiency in Healthcare Settings
With so many users sharing a printer in a healthcare setting, implementing print queues can significantly improve efficiency—providing faster access to critical patient information such as prescriptions, test results, and medical records. Print queues allow you to set rules that prioritize print jobs, to ensure that urgent documents are printed first.
By setting up centralized print queues, healthcare staff can also print from any device to any printer, so they don’t need to waste time looking for their document or resubmitting lost print jobs—they can simply send to the printer that is closest or most convenient to them.
Mobile Printing: Empowering a Connected Workforce
The rise of virtual and mobile care means that a growing number of distributed teams are working from a mix of managed and personal devices. These all need to be able to connect and print on demand from any hospital word, consulting room, imaging lab, or treatment center.
With location-based print queues, printers are assigned according to where the user is, so they don’t have to scroll through every single printer on the network whenever they want to print.
In a fast-moving environment, it’s vital that sensitive client information doesn’t get lost or accidentally picked up by the wrong person—and these are higher risks with a mobile workforce. Secure print release adds another layer of document security, requiring the user to authenticate themselves at the printer with a PIN code or badge, before the print job can be completed. This ensures that documents are only released to authorized personnel.
Print Cost Control: Tracking and Allocation
One major advantage of print management software is its ability to monitor print activity across departments, users, and devices. This allows for accurate tracking of paper, toner, and maintenance costs, which in turn enables organizations to allocate print expenses appropriately.
Automated tracking and reporting also promote accountability to help reduce unnecessary printing. To minimize waste and improve cost efficiency, you can implement policies such as duplex printing, color usage restrictions, and print quotas for individuals or departments.
Automating Print Management Tasks to Reduce IT Overhead in Healthcare Systems
Print management solutions can free IT staff from the burden of routine administrative tasks, by automating things like driver updates, print queue management, and user provisioning. With fewer print-related service requests and system disruptions, IT teams can focus on higher-value work and strategic initiatives.
Plus, automated monitoring and reporting enables proactive management of print fleets and cost control across the healthcare network—as well as enhanced security and compliance without the need for manual intervention.
Integration with EHR Systems: Streamlined Workflows
Healthcare organizations rely on several different systems—including finance, inventory management, rostering, and electronic health records (EHR)—which all need printing capabilities. But a lack of interoperability between these systems can cause compatibility and cybersecurity issues.
Print management software takes a cross-platform and vendor-neutral approach, enabling secure integration between critical healthcare applications. This simplifies and streamlines printing workflows across multiple systems and platforms.
The Role of Cloud Print Management in Modernizing Healthcare IT Infrastructure
Cloud print services eliminate the need for traditional, on-premise print servers to handle print jobs, reducing the complexity of managing on-site IT infrastructure. With cloud-based printing, organizations can manage print resources from a single platform—maintaining centralized control while allowing healthcare staff to print securely at any time and from anywhere through a digital user interface.
Cloud print management automatically installs drivers and print queues, reducing the IT overhead, and can easily scale up or down as the healthcare organization evolves or grows. Without the upkeep of print servers and drivers, it requires little to no maintenance.
In a complex and fast-moving medical setting, print management needs to be pain-free. By simplifying and streamlining print servers, drivers, and queues, healthcare organizations can allow their doctors, nurses, and staff to focus on what matters most: providing the best treatment for their patients.
