lant is already Y2K compliant.The faculty and staff at Major Hospital is extremely confident that when the newmillennium arrives, it will not be accompanied by any significant problems or catastropheswith regard to malfunctioning utilities. If any problems do surface, Major Hospital hasassured its community and its patients that the problems will be minor in scope and will bequickly and efficiently dealt with. As has been discussed in this report, the Y2K problem is a vast and complex issuethat must be dealt with by hospitals. Virtually every facet of hospital care is affected bythe Y2K problem. Patient care, clerical software, and utilities are three major aspects ofthe hospital organization that, if left unchecked for Y2K compliance, could causeconfusion, sickness, and even death among hospital patients. Worst case scenarios involvemalfunctioning pacemakers, improper medication being dispensed, and unusabledefibrillators in emergency situations. The Major Hospital staff, like most other hospitalstaffs, continues to work diligently to ensure that whatever malfunctions occur are minor.It is difficult to predict the scope of the Y2K problem and the possible severity ofrelated malfunctions when the most knowledgeable computer experts disagree on theseverity of the problem. According to Alastair Stewart, a senior Year 2000 advisor withinformation technologies market watcher Giga Information Group, the Y2K computerdate bug will not cause an embedded systems Armageddon as some have feared. Itmay rain, but the sky wont fall. Giga recently called for a common-sense approach tothe Y2K threat. Some projected scenarios have Y2K failures toppling civilization. Forexample, in one sequence of falling dominoes, embedded track switching controls willcause railroads to fail to deliver coal to power generation plants. As a result, electricutilities--which have Y2K problems of their own--will shut down. As the power grid goesdead, telephones...
