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SALT LAKE CITY — Technology failures that caused disruptions at the University of Utah and prevented the U.'s hospital from taking in new patients Tuesday have been resolved Wednesday.
A humidity problem Tuesday triggered a massive shutdown of university computer servers, stopping the University of Utah Hospital from receiving new emergency patients.
The University of Utah posted on social media that there was a widespread IT outage in its data center. Reports of the U.'s electronic systems being down started around 3:45 p.m. Tuesday.
The university announced Wednesday at 9:45 a.m. that all IT issues were resolved.
Because of the outdoor humidity, teams were adjusting the humidity level of the room where the servers are located. In the process the room became too humid, triggering an automatic shutdown by the room's temperature and humidity controls, communications director Kathy Wilets said.
The University of Utah Hospital was not taking in any new emergency patients via ambulances or helicopter but patient care at all inpatient facilities was functioning normally, hospital officials said.
"This is something that we plan for and that we practice for. It sounds big and it sounds catastrophic, but I just think it's important to remember this is the way that we used to work all the time," U. of U. Health spokeswoman Suzanne Winchester said. All communications at the hospital are being done through pen and paper until the server issue is resolved.
Wilets said Wednesday the hospital returned to normal operations and is taking in new patients again.
According to the University of Utah's website, applications such as Canvas, Peoplesoft, Ultimate Kronos Group, VPN, UMail, University of Utah Home Page, Voice Systems and more were down.
The university did not cancel classes, Wilets said.
The outage also affected Utah Transit Authority's platform signs and vehicle tracking systems for a few hours Tuesday. UTA said on social media at 7:50 p.m. Tuesday that its server issues were fixed and both signs and tracking systems were available again.
(2/2) Patient care at all inpatient facilities is functioning normally.
— University of Utah Health (@UofUHealth) August 23, 2023
