I chat with healthcare providers daily, and they always stress how crucial efficiency, accuracy, and safety are in their facilities. Because I live and breathe it, RTLS (Real-Time Location Systems) comes up as a solution, so I put this together to showcase its use cases and benefits.
RTLS technology offers real-time insights into the location and status of assets, staff, and patients within a healthcare facility. By using the technology, hospitals can significantly boost their efficiency, safety, and resource management. Whether in the Emergency Department, Operating Room, Pathology Labs, or Housekeeping, RTLS has applications that can transform healthcare operations.
This overview dives into how RTLS can be used in various departments, from tracking assets and managing patient flow to ensuring staff safety and compliance. I’ll share detailed examples to show how RTLS tackles unique challenges and helps deliver high-quality, efficient, and safe patient care.
Join me as we explore how RTLS is revolutionising hospitals, ensuring the best care for patients, a safe environment for staff, and optimal use of every asset. Let's see how this technology can make a difference in your facility!
Biomedical Engineering
Asset Tracking: RTLS assists in the real-time location and monitoring of essential medical equipment such as infusion pumps, ventilators, diagnostic machines, and mobile imaging devices. This ensures that equipment is readily available when needed, reduces search times, and improves overall operational efficiency.
Preventative Maintenance: By tracking the usage and operational hours of equipment, RTLS can schedule maintenance activities proactively. This reduces equipment downtime, prevents unexpected failures, and extends the lifespan of medical devices.
Recalls: RTLS enables quick identification and precise location of equipment subject to recalls. This ensures prompt removal from service, maintaining patient safety and compliance with recall directives.
Cleaning: RTLS tracks cleaning schedules for medical equipment, ensuring that all devices are sanitised according to hospital standards. This helps maintain hygiene and reduces the risk of infections.
Recycling: Monitor and track items that are due for recycling, such as single-use devices and expired materials, promoting sustainable practices within the hospital and ensuring compliance with environmental regulations.
Compliance: Ensure all equipment complies with regulatory standards by tracking inspections, certifications, and maintenance activities. RTLS provides documentation and alerts for upcoming compliance deadlines.
Materials Management
Asset Management: RTLS optimises the management of medical supplies and equipment inventory by providing real-time data on stock levels, locations, and usage patterns. This ensures that supplies are always available when needed, reduces waste, and minimises storage costs.
Leasing/Rentals: Track leased or rented equipment to manage terms, returns, and usage effectively. RTLS provides visibility into the location and condition of leased items, helping to avoid late fees and unnecessary rental costs.
Emergency Department
Patient-Flow Tracking: Monitor patient movement from admission to discharge, providing real-time data to reduce wait times and improve care delivery. RTLS helps manage patient queues, prioritise critical cases, and optimise room utilisation.
Staff Safety: Provide real-time location data of staff to ensure quick assistance in case of emergencies or safety incidents. RTLS can trigger alerts for staff in distress and help security personnel locate them quickly.
Asset Availability: Ensure critical equipment like defibrillators, stretchers, and portable diagnostic tools are available and easily locatable in emergencies. RTLS helps maintain an inventory of essential emergency equipment and monitors their condition.
OR/Surgery
Patient Flow: Track patient movement through pre-op, surgery, and post-op stages to optimise scheduling and reduce delays. RTLS provides real-time updates to surgical teams and coordinators, ensuring smooth transitions and timely procedures.
Process Improvement: Identify and eliminate bottlenecks in surgical procedures by analysing RTLS data. This enhances efficiency, reduces surgical wait times, and improves patient outcomes.
Asset Availability: Ensure surgical tools, instruments, and equipment are in place and ready for use. RTLS tracks the availability and location of surgical assets, minimising delays and ensuring preparedness.
Temperature Monitoring: Maintain proper storage conditions for surgical supplies, medications, and specimens. RTLS continuously monitors temperatures and alerts staff to any deviations, ensuring compliance with safety standards.
Sample Tracking: Accurately track and manage surgical samples from collection to the lab. RTLS ensures the integrity and timely delivery of samples, reducing the risk of errors and contamination.
Pathology/Laboratory
Sample Tracking: Use RTLS to track samples from collection through analysis to ensure accurate handling and reduce errors. RTLS provides visibility into sample locations and statuses, ensuring timely processing and reporting.
Freezer/Refrigerator Management: Monitor temperatures of storage units to maintain the integrity of samples and reagents. RTLS alerts staff to any temperature deviations, preventing sample spoilage and ensuring compliance with storage protocols.
Housekeeping
Transport Dispatch and Tracking: Manage housekeeping staff dispatch efficiently to ensure timely cleaning and maintenance. RTLS tracks staff locations and tasks, optimising resource allocation and response times.
Tracking Assets: Monitor the availability and condition of cleaning equipment. RTLS ensures that cleaning tools are in good working order and available when needed, improving overall efficiency.
Bed Management: Track bed status and availability, ensuring quick turnover and readiness for new patients. RTLS helps coordinate bed assignments and cleaning schedules, reducing patient wait times and improving bed utilisation.
IT/IS
Tracking WOW Carts: Ensure workstations on wheels are available, charged, and ready for use. RTLS monitors the location and battery status of WOW carts, ensuring they are functional and accessible.
PDA Management: Track personal digital assistants to ensure they are available and functional for staff. RTLS helps manage the inventory and maintenance of PDAs, reducing downtime and improving communication.
VOIP Phones: Monitor the location and status of communication devices to ensure seamless communication across departments. RTLS ensures that VOIP phones are operational and easily accessible in critical areas.
Security
Guard Tracking and Paging: Monitor the location of security personnel to ensure quick response times. RTLS provides real-time location data and communication tools for efficient coordination during emergencies.
Staff Duress Messaging: Provide a system for staff to quickly signal for help in case of emergencies. RTLS enables discreet duress alerts and ensures rapid response from security teams.
Emergency Call Location: Quickly locate the origin of emergency calls to ensure rapid response. RTLS identifies the exact location of emergency callers, improving response times and coordination.
Management/Finance
Sox/Joint Commission Compliance: Track and document compliance activities to ensure adherence to regulatory standards. RTLS provides audit trails, documentation, and alerts for compliance deadlines, simplifying regulatory reporting.
Auditing: Monitor the usage and location of assets for accurate auditing and accountability. RTLS provides detailed logs and reports, supporting financial audits and asset management.
Budgeting: Use asset utilisation data to optimise budget allocation and reduce unnecessary expenses. RTLS helps identify underutilised assets and optimise resource allocation, improving financial efficiency.
Pharmacy
Narcotics Tracking: Ensure the secure handling and tracking of controlled substances to prevent theft and ensure compliance. RTLS provides real-time visibility into narcotics inventory and access, enhancing security and accountability.
Freezers/Refrigerators: Monitor temperatures of storage units to maintain medication efficacy and safety. RTLS alerts staff to any temperature deviations, ensuring that medications are stored under optimal conditions.
RTLS technology is a game-changer for hospitals and healthcare facilities, offering a wide range of benefits that can revolutionise operations and patient care. By adopting RTLS, you can ensure that your facility is operating at peak efficiency, maintaining the highest standards of safety, and delivering the best possible care to your patients.
If you’re ready to take your healthcare facility to the next level, I encourage you to explore how RTLS can make a difference. Reach out to us for a chat and see firsthand how this technology can help to transform your operations. Let’s work together to create a safer, more efficient, and patient-focused environment.
All the best,
Mark Winter
Chief Executive Officer
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