From the frontlines: Revolutionizing healthcare workers experience

I'm Catarina Rodrigues and recently, I've had the opportunity to have several conversations with healthcare customers on how Intune can effectively manage devices in frontline critical environments. In this “From the frontlines” blog, I want to share with you some of my learnings.

Technology has revolutionized the healthcare sector, where hospitals are replacing paper with digital systems to ensure patient information is securely stored and easily accessible. Doctors can now check patient files and statuses on the go as they move around the hospital. Nurses can check their patients’ exams digitally and first responders in ambulances get access to essential information that helps save lives.

As shared in From the frontlines: Frontline worker management with Microsoft Intune , Intune allows healthcare organizations to secure mobile devices and manage data access, while ensuring a great user experience. Intune supports multiple platforms, making it the ideal solution for unified endpoint management. It allows for the configuration of devices to meet specific needs, whether for individual users, shared devices, or dedicated use.

Let's look at an example of how Intune can enhance healthcare operations and patient care:

The Nurses station in the Hospital’s ICU

Nurses in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) manage some of the most complex patient cases within the hospital and are typically responsible for multiple patient beds on the same floor. They typically have a short time window to act, need access to patient records and must easily communicate with other departments in the hospital.

To modernize workflows and improve patient care, IT admins of a hospital are looking at ways to implement the use of Android tablets in the nurses’ station of the ICU. With this device, they are hoping to provide the nurses access to essential information, such as a live feed of patient rooms, vital signs and recent exam results, allowing them to monitor significant changes in their patient’s health.

To build such a reliable and safe solution, IT admins need to consider the following requirements:

• These Android devices are shared by different people throughout the day, as nurses work in shifts.
• Users must sign in using their credentials to ensure they are verified and authorized hospital staff.
• New versions of essential applications need to be tested before moving to production.
• System and application updates need to happen during a specified maintenance window.
• This device is used to communicate with other hospital services via message or voice.
• This device can only connect to approved networks.

Considering these requirements, we can set up these devices as Android Enterprise Dedicated with Microsoft Entra Shared Device Mode (Fig. 1) to enable nurses to use them even as shifts change.

Fig. 1 – Setting up a Corporate-Owned Android Enterprise Dedicated with Microsoft Entra shared mode enrolment profile.

Nurses must sign in and authenticate to access this information, thereby protecting their patients' personal information. With Managed Home Screen, nurses will see a login screen that they can use to authenticate once (Fig. 2). From that point onward, during their shift, they’re signed in to all applications seamlessly and can trigger access using a PIN.

Fig. 2 – Kiosk mode multi-app device experience profile for Android Enterprise Dedicated.

IT admins work with the developers of essential applications to enable phased deployments of new application versions using testing tracks in assignments. IT admins can use application configuration policies to manage settings of essential applications. System and applications updates can be scheduled to occur during a maintenance window to avoid disruption in the critical ICU department.

Lastly, by utilizing Intune configuration profiles, IT admins can set up Microsoft Teams to function as a walkie-talkie, enabling the voice feature. For security measures, Wi-Fi connectivity is limited to the hospital's network. These profiles can also be used to set up a custom wallpaper with hospital branding or even a widget to display weather conditions.

This is just an example of how Intune can assist healthcare organizations in managing their FLW devices. Other examples include doctors being able to check patient files and calendars on their managed corporate iPhones, or hospitals having an admission system at the entrance that allows patients to check-in easily upon arrival for their consultation.

This blog is part of a series: “From the frontlines:”. We’ll publish additional blogs on other healthcare scenarios and industries, such as retail and airlines, in the upcoming months. Check out From the frontlines: Frontline worker management with Microsoft Intune to see all other “From the frontlines:” blogs!

Stay tuned!

Please refer to the documentation here for more guidance:

• For information on how to set up shared Android devices refer to: Enroll Android Enterprise dedicated, fully managed, or corporate-owned work profile devices in Intune
• You can find more information on Managed Home Screen and how it can improve the user experience refer to: Configure the Microsoft Managed Home Screen app
• If you’d like to learn more about how Microsoft Entra Shared Device Mode can help your users easily sign in and sign out leveraging single sign-on review: Shared Device Mode overview - Microsoft identity platform
• To learn about how to setup maintenance windows and define application update conditions refer to: Corporate-owned Android Enterprise device restriction settings in Microsoft Intune

Let us know if you have any questions by leaving a comment on this post or reaching out on X @IntuneSuppTeam.