Wireless handheld device and LAN security issues: a case study

The application of WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) technology in the healthcare industry has gained increasing attention in recent years. It provides effective and efficient sharing of health information among healthcare professionals in timely and effective treatment of patients (Collaborative Health Informatics Centre, 2000, Whetton, 2005a). However, there is still a concern among healthcare professionals whether health information is shared safely with WLAN technology. The primary aim of this study is to explore factors influencing healthcare professionals' adoption of WLAN security technology. This study was conducted in regional health settings in Queensland, Australia with a mixed research methodology. A focus group discussion and a questionnaire survey were used in the mixed research methodology. Four factors were extracted from the study. Learning support, user technology awareness, readiness of existing system and social influence are four important factors in healthcare professionals' adoption of WLAN security technology in this study. The findings suggest that healthcare professionals prefer to be more informed and prepared on knowledge of WLAN security technology before they decide to adopt it in their work environment. Healthcare professionals are concerned with their interaction with WLAN security technology. Therefore, their awareness of what the technology can do and cannot do for them and the support they could get in learning to use the technology play a crucial role. The healthcare professionals are also concerned with how readily their existing system could support WLAN security technology and how people important to them would influence their decision in adopting WLAN security technology. Future research should extend the study in three areas. Firstly, future study should examine factors in this study with more regional areas of Australia. Secondly, future research should also examine the relationship between the factors and the demographic variables. Finally, there is also the possibility of examining the adoption factors with other security technology in healthcare such as the pairing of WLAN technology and biometric security