Cloud, hospital server and device offline: questions before buying

Ask what staff can do when a connection fails, and which connection the demonstration is actually removing. Losing internet access while the hospital network still works is a different exercise from taking a phone away from both.

Terms such as cloud and offline describe parts of an arrangement. They do not, by themselves, prove that a returning patient's record will be available at reception during the next outage.

Locate the dependencies

Cloud services use network access to remotely supplied computing resources. NIST's cloud definition describes the model; it does not establish the outage behaviour of a particular hospital application.

A hospital-server arrangement places a service on equipment operated for the hospital, with its own power, network and maintenance needs. Ask who runs that equipment and what staff can do when it is unavailable. Do not assume that avoiding an internet dependency removes the need for a working network or recovery plan.

Device-offline behaviour concerns work a particular device can perform without the required connection. Ask which records are already available there, which actions are allowed and what happens to saved work afterwards. An application icon on the home screen answers none of those questions.

Use a sequence the supplier can demonstrate

Choose a fictional returning patient whose record is known to be available on the test device. Observe the task with the relevant connection removed under the supplier's agreed demonstration procedure. Then ask about a patient whose record was created elsewhere and has not reached that device.

Restore the connection and follow the saved work through its visible status. Have another authorised user explain what they can see. Record any action that needs an online service, and ask how staff should recognise that boundary.

RizCare uses enrolled devices for local work and a separate practice service; it does not require an on-site server. Staff must still distinguish work saved on a device from work accepted by the practice.

Use the device inventory alongside the demo observation sheet. Before signing, obtain the supplier's written responsibilities for support and recovery, including the steps the hospital must perform and the limits of any exported copy.