From the April 2015 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
Tracking of patient discharge is another function that RTLS offers to boost efficiency. Teletracking sells a solution displaying discharge milestones online to assure that all discharge procedures are conducted in a timely manner. “We also provide disposable wristband transmitters which trigger the throughput process for the next patient awaiting a bed when the discharged patient leaves the hospital,” says TeleTracking Technologies’ Harber.
Most waiting is waste when it comes to health care, says Tracy Faleide, corporate communications director for Intelligent Insites. Often physicians are waiting for resources, nurses are waiting for rooms to be available, and patients are waiting to be healed. And meanwhile, there is RTLS technology available to automatically sense the movement and proximity of people and equipment all across the health system. “That kind of visibility uncovers the process bottlenecks, equipment shortages, or manual steps that drag out delays and pile on costs,” she says.
RTLS providers are turning that visibility into operational intelligence that automatically drives efficient care delivery. The goal is to automate workflow steps and communications while providing in-depth visibility that fuels continuous improvement of the patient, staff, and family member experience. In addition, environmental monitoring solutions track temperature, humidity and CO2 levels and automate compliance logging to prevent spoilage and the subsequent waste of expensive vaccines, medications, nutrition and supplies.
“We expect to see rapid growth in the adoption of enterprise-grade operational intelligence,” says Faleide, meaning RTLS technology will be embedded and leveraged across all aspects of health care operations and in all types of facilities. “We have seen a significant increase in inquiries, requests for proposals, and requests for meetings with our executives as health care delivery systems and technology providers attempt to gear up for rapid-but informed implementation,” she adds.
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