When it comes to patient outcomes in healthcare, we know every second counts. So, the last thing doctors, nurses, and other staff need is to waste precious time trying to get a patient’s record or prescription out of the printer.
Why do we need specialized hospital printing solutions?
Large healthcare organizations must keep up with a high volume of medical printing daily, but many struggle with outdated print infrastructure that creates inefficiencies, impacting the speed and quality of patient care.
Healthcare printing is also complicated by the fact that staff are often mobile, moving between different clinics, offices, and specialist care centers. They frequently work from their own devices, using a mix of operating systems—making it even more difficult for IT teams to maintain visibility and control over the print environment.
What’s more, healthcare is a highly regulated industry, with stringent requirements for handling patient health information, including printed materials. Without robust print management solutions for healthcare, organizations risk security breaches, non-compliance, and rising operational costs. But is it possible to implement hospital printing solutions without adding to the IT burden? We think so.
Centralized print management improves visibility and control over medical printing activities
Centralized print management software enables print systems to seamlessly integrate with existing healthcare IT frameworks, including electronic health records (EHR) or hospital information systems (HIS). While many facilities are considering a complete migration to the cloud, hybrid cloud print solutions are an alternative that help bridge legacy on-premise infrastructure with modern cloud-based management, allowing healthcare organizations to maintain existing systems while benefiting from cloud flexibility and scalability. When printing is directly linked to other healthcare applications, medical staff can quickly and securely access patient records, without the need for manual intervention.
By simplifying and streamlining medical printing, centralized print management helps drive workflow efficiency, save time, and reduce waste. Hospital printing solutions also come with valuable security features like user authentication, print job tracking, and secure release, helping prevent unauthorized access to confidential patient information. Additionally, print audit trails make it easier for IT teams to meet any regional regulations, including HIPAA, HITECH, and GDPR by ensuring that all printed documents are accounted for.
Best practices for standardizing print policies across the facility
Standardized print policies ensure consistent and reliable printing for all healthcare staff, and enhanced security and compliance across the organization. Best practices include:
- Universal print policy. Establish rules such as default duplex and black-and-white printing, as well as consistent user profiles and access controls.
- Centralized print management. Use software to monitor print activity and enforce print policies from a single console.
- Printing quotas. Implement quotas for individual users or departments to control excessive printing.
- Secure printing. Enable secure print release functionality, which requires user authentication for each print job, like a PIN code or badge scan.
- Regular staff training. Make sure all employees understand print policies, compliance requirements, and the importance of reducing print waste.
The Importance of integrating print systems with existing healthcare IT frameworks
Digital transformation in the healthcare sector calls for solutions that can bridge the gap between paper-based and digital processes. Centralized print management software enables print systems to seamlessly integrate with existing healthcare IT frameworks, including electronic health records (EHR) or hospital information systems (HIS).
When printing is directly linked to other healthcare applications, medical staff can quickly and securely access patient records, without the need for manual intervention. This reduces the administrative workload, saves time and effort, and minimizes errors —as critical documents are available when and where they are needed.
Integration is also key to maintaining a secure, controlled environment for handling protected health information (PHI) and personally identifiable information (PII), ensuring the highest standards of data protection and compliance.
Tips on automating routine healthcare print management tasks to reduce the IT workload
1. Leverage print management software for automatic driver deployment, user provisioning, and print job tracking.
2. Enable secure print release to reduce waste and ensure information security.
3. Install universal print drivers where possible to streamline driver management across multiple devices. Note that you should check compatibility with specialized medical printers before deploying universal drivers.
4. Download drivers directly from the manufacturer and set automatic updates when new versions or patches are released.
5. Set up real-time monitoring tools that send alerts when printers are low on ink or toner or require maintenance.
6. Automate supply reordering based on usage patterns, harnessing data from your centralized print management solution.
7. Use a printing solution that offers mobile device management (MDM) and print job encryption for staff using their own devices.
8. Streamline print queues to enable staff to print from any device to any computer, so they don’t lose track of their print jobs.
9. Provide users with appropriate training and resources to troubleshoot common printing issues.
10. Analyze print logs to identify inefficiencies, reallocate printing resources, and optimize the print environment.
By following these best practices, IT staff in any healthcare facility can be relieved from the burden of routine administrative tasks, print-related service requests, and system disruptions. This frees them up to focus on proactive print management across the entire healthcare network—driving efficiency and security.
