Lessons learned from an IT network outage

Dear AuntMinnie Member,

It is every IT manager's worst nightmare -- a network outage that brings down a hospital's entire data infrastructure for days. But while an IT network outage can be a major headache, it doesn't have to be a disaster, according to those who have been there.

Careful disaster recovery planning can mitigate the effects of an outage, according to an article appearing in our RIS Digital Community by staff writer Jonathan S. Batchelor. His story tracks the experiences -- and lessons learned -- at a hospital in Boston that had a complete system outage lasting three days.

Hospital operations reverted to a pre-digital era, as clinicians and administrators struggled to cope with lack of access to their electronic data. Interestingly, many older clinicians were better equipped to cope, as they simply resorted to manual methods they had used earlier in their careers.

Eventually the hospital was able to bring its network back up and resume normal operations. But the experience taught them valuable lessons that you can learn without the pain of going through a network outage yourself. Learn how you can prepare for a data disaster in our RIS Digital Community, at ris.auntminnie.com.