Background
In order for an hospital to improve its performance, the starting point is undoubtedly the efficiency of operational processes involving staff (doctors, nurses) and the optimization of the use of hospital assets (medical devices, stretchers, wheelchairs , ...). A study conducted by the consulting firm Gartner estimated that every year between 10% and 20% of the inventory of hospital assets is misallocated or even lost. In the worst cases this causes a loss of up to 5,000 USD / year per single bed.
The improvement of the performance of an hospital also passes from the perception of safety that is guaranteed
to the staff, with particular reference to nurses and first aid workers. Episodes of emergency, aggression, violence are more and more frequent
and cause in the staff a sense of insecurity and evident precariousness.
Localization technologies (RTLS, Real-Time Locating Systems) provide real-time data to identify the patterns of movement of assets and people
and to have all the information necessary to make informed decisions, to rationalize workflows, improve patient care and operator safety.
Challenge
- Within the ATLAS project, an RTLS solution was implemented in collaboration with a
primary Tuscan hospital. The aim of the project was to respond to customer needs, validating the technological solutions developed within the ATLAS project.
In particular, the hospital center has expressed some specific operational needs:
- • check the presence of patients in the rooms/wards;
- • receive alarm alerts in real time if the patient leaves the ward without authorization;
- • equip the nursing staff with wearable devices equipped with an alarm call button, in order to receive
geo-localized alarm reports within the department;
- • reduce the search time for medical devices (medical devices, medicine trolleys,
wheelchairs, stretchers, etc.) for the purpose of improving operational processes and increasing the rate of use of resources.
In particular, the hospital center has expressed some specific operational needs: