The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center is grappling with a network outage following what was intended to be a routine network upgrade. A statement released to Spectrum News 1 confirmed that the disruption, which began in the afternoon last Friday, has led to significant adjustments in patient care protocols.
As a consequence of the system failures, the medical center's two emergency departments were forced to go on divert status, meaning incoming ambulances are being rerouted to nearby hospitals. Despite the technical difficulties, outpatient care sites have remained operational. "We continue to care for our patients using our down-time procedures that are designed to maintain operations," said a spokesperson in a statement. The medical center's engineers, according to the statement obtained by The Columbus Dispatch, are working tirelessly to restore the services.
The issues stem from complications that arose during what was supposed to be a standard network enhancement. This led to an immediate impact on the hospital's critical information technology systems. According to a spokesperson that spoke to WBNS, the outage effectively shut down an urgent care location as well.
In light of the outage's extended duration, the medical center has reiterated its commitment to patient care, emphasizing the utilization of well-established downtime procedures to keep its facilities functional. "Our emergency departments are on divert status. Outpatient care sites are open. We appreciate everyone's patience as we work to restore systems," a spokesperson told WBNS. Progress is being made by the engineering team, albeit with no specific timeline for a full resolution provided.
