University Health System
“A Success Story”
MAY 2015
Z-Band, Helping
Patients Feel Like
They Have the
Comforts of Home
with High Definition
TV
Patient-Satisfaction
When University Health System (UHS), San Antonio, TX
officials began planning to build Sky Tower, a millionsquare-foot hospital that would more than double the
number of patient rooms, they were determined to
create an environment that would help reduce patient
stress by incorporating some of the comforts of home. As
a result, the Tower which opened in April 2014 features
green spaces, art, and comfortable private patient rooms
where a patient can watch high definition television with
his or her family.
“Every decision we’ve made has had the patient in mind,
and at the heart of that is our patient rooms,” said Mark
Webb, Senior Vice President, UHS.
UHS knew from the beginning that extending the
hospital’s legacy TV distribution system into the new
Tower was not a viable option. “It’s an older coaxial
system. To add to it, you tap in wherever you can and
then amplify and distribute to the TVs on that floor. It is a
tap-and-go approach,” said Chris Arellano, of Walker
Engineering, Inc. of Austin, TX, which provided network
installation services for the Tower, “and any addition or
removal of a TV on the old system requires system
rebalancing, Maintenance is disruptive and expensive!”
Selection of a New Video Distribution System
The DataCom Design Group, LLC of Austin, TX was
selected to work with the architects and develop the
specifications for the project, so the project could be put
out for bid.
Early in the planning process, Andrew Schmucker, a
DataCom senior designer, recommended that the hospital
use a video distribution system from Z-Band, Inc. “We
had a couple of other hospitals in Houston that used
Z-Band, and they were impressed with features such as
Z-Band’s automatic signal gain and tilt control,”
Schmucker said. However, some members of the UHS
planning team were initially concerned. They had seen or
heard negative things about other video systems that
relied on twisted-pair cable for distribution. Those
systems were passive and required manual balancing,
similar in some ways to the old coax systems. Schmucker
was familiar with Z-Band technology from prior
installations and held a meeting to demonstrate Z-Band’s
active signal conditioning capability. The planning team
quickly realized the long-term maintenance savings and
enhanced patient viewing experiences.
University Health System
“A Success Story”
Cascading the GigaBUDs Between Floors
The Z-Band system uses the same twisted-pair cable used
for a patient engagement portal, whereas a coaxial
system has to run coax and twisted-pair cable side-by-side
to every patient room. Patients can use the portal to
watch videos about their physical condition and
treatment or request services such as housekeeping.
Z-Band and the patient portal each use different pins on
the same twisted-pair cable. “Z-Band uses pins 7 and 8 for
video, while the patient engagement software uses pins
1, 2, 3, and 6,” said Henry Collins, Z-Band’s senior
engineer.
Wing A
Wing B
In addition, use of twisted-pair cable gives a hospital more
flexibility over how it uses its floor space in the future.
“CAT 6A (twisted-pair) cable can be used for security
cameras, wireless access points, and network connections
as opposed to being limited to TV distribution,” said
Arellano.
UHS found Z-Band to be the best fit for both the present
and the future. “When a building must last for decades,
you want as much future-proofing as possible,” Arellano
said.
Design and Installation
DataCom Design completed the final design and
specifications, and when the Sky Tower was ready for
cabling, Walker Engineering was brought in for the TV
distribution system installation. First, the Walker team set
up a new TV headend for a clean digital signal feed into a
Z-Band GEN 4 “GigaBUD,” video hub with a built in singlemode fiber optics receiver. Using a fiber splitter, the
signal was then distributed to the two wings. The fiber
carries the video to the GigaBUDs set up as master video
hubs located on the ground and fifth floors (the first floor
of patient rooms) of each wing. From there, the video is
carried vertically using a coaxial cable backbone to a
GigaBUD set up as a satellite hub on each floor. The video
is then distributed horizontally over twisted-pair cable to
a GigaBOB (active balun) at each TV in every patient
room.
RED- Single-Mode Fiber
Black- RG 6 Cable Backbone
University Health System
“A Success Story”
Compatibility with Patient Engagement Technology
A Full Campus Experience
When the Walker Engineering team brought the patient
engagement system online, Arellano momentarily
panicked when he saw that the portal’s USB tuner stick
created interference with the Z-Band video distribution
system. His nerves were quickly put at ease with one fiveminute call to Collins (who was on vacation at a beach).
“Honestly, Collins told me how to correct the situation in
less than a minute, but I spent four more minutes asking
questions because I couldn’t believe it could be that
easy,” Arellano said. “The Z-Band system is ninety-five
percent plug-and-play,” Collins said. “But easily accessed
options are available to customize an installation when
needed.”
Of course, the patient rooms were not the only locations
at the hospital where video was required. High definition
TV was also made available to the 35 operating rooms,
the lobby area, and at the guard gate of the parking
garage.
“I could have saved a lot of time and concern on this
project if I had known how well the Z-Band technology
worked,” Arellano said. “It seemed too good to be true,
but it worked just like they said it would!”
The rest of the hospital will gradually upgrade to the new
digital headend as each wing of the original hospital is
renovated, and eventually the original analog headend
will be retired.
Because of the success at Sky Tower, UHS has selected
the Z-Band system as its standard for new construction
and renovations that involve TV distribution. As a result of
the standard, the Z-Band system has also been installed at
a new health center at another campus.
Patient-satisfaction is paramount; it enhances healing and
minimizes the time in hospital. Dependable quality TV
contributes to wellness.
University Health Systems
Press Release
Z-Band is honored to have been part of such an advanced
technology project
Sky Tower Opens its Doors, Ushers in New
Era at University Hospital
Patient-centered, technologically advanced and filled with
healing art, the redesigned hospital is now well-positioned
to continue its unique mission of advanced care, teaching
and innovation
(SAN ANTONIO, TX – March 29, 2014) University Health
System celebrates the completion of its new million-squarefoot Sky Tower today, an ambitious expansion and redesign
of University Hospital that doubles its size and transforms it
into one of the most beautiful and technologically advanced
in the nation.
The goal was to create a new University Hospital for the
decades ahead, with capacity to serve one of the country’s
fastest-growing metro areas. It also had to be designed from
top to bottom for the challenges of health reform —
providing the highest quality care, as efficiently as possible,
and focused on meeting the needs and expectations of its
patients.
The 10-story Sky Tower was designed with patients and
families in mind, from spacious private rooms to shaded
gardens for respite and fresh air, to on-demand room service
and interactive TV entertainment and patient education.
More than 1,200 works of art and design enhancements are
aimed at promoting healing and hope, and humanizing the
high-tech medicine provided there.
than before. Rainwater will be collected in cisterns for
landscaping. And the San Antonio Water System has
extended its recycled water lines the hospital for use in
landscaping and our central cooling plant. The hospital is
seeking LEED Gold designation — a status granted to the
Robert B. Green Campus last year.
It remains the primary teaching partner of the UT Texas
Health Science Center San Antonio, training the next
generation of health professionals — many of whom stay in
San Antonio to practice. Another mission is to help find new
and better treatments, with some 500 research studies
taking place at any given time — all aimed at improving
human health.
University Hospital’s Level I trauma center provides
lifesaving care to those within a 22-county region of South
Texas, and is the only pediatric trauma and burn center in
the region. It is home to the only civilian emergency
medicine residency program in the region. It has signature
programs in neurosciences, cardiovascular disease, organ
transplantation and maternal/fetal medicine.
It is the only Magnet healthcare facility in South Texas
designated by the American Nurses Association — the gold
standard in nursing care. It’s been named a U.S. News &
World Report Best Hospital over many years, and is
recognized nationally for its electronic medical record and
innovative technology.
It contains a greatly expanded emergency department, 35
surgical suites on two floors and 420 new private rooms —
bringing the total throughout the hospital to 716.
The Sky Tower was designed to be environmentally friendly,
using nearly a third less energy than a standard building
through technology and a sophisticated use of natural and
artificial light. Even though the new hospital is twice as large
with a third more green space, it will use less fresh water
www.universityhealthsystems.com/pressreleases