How better managed mobile assets result in better experiences

BY RICHARD WOODBURN

It’s hard to overstate the importance of accurate and efficient asset tracking in a hospital setting. There is literally not a minute to waste when a patient’s well-being hangs in the balance. The inability to find medical equipment or mobile assets in hospitals as soon as they’re needed – from an infusion pump to an ultrasound machine or even a wheelchair – can have a far-reaching negative impact.

Mobile assets are often shared between departments in a hospital, or even across hospitals, creating the scenario where clinicians, nurses and other hospital staff spend precious time trying to track down the location of important assets. And the impact of time spent looking for the equipment extends beyond the floor or area where it’s missing.

It also impacts the other areas where workers have to stop what they’re doing to answer a call and then go look for the missing equipment in their area, resulting in frustration all around. Some departments may even hoard, hide or lock up equipment so they can be sure to have it when it’s needed. In some instances, hospitals resort to renting equipment just to fill equipment gaps for assets they can’t locate but actually have. This impacts operations and the patient experience.

As healthcare continues to digitize its operations, and it will, 95 percent of IT decision-makers in Zebra’s Healthcare Vision Study say they expect to increase healthcare IT and clinical mobility investments in the next year – the need to efficiently manage assets also grows. In fact, eight in 10 hospital decision-makers say they plan to implement automation to locate critical equipment and medical assets in the next year. Proper asset management of movable assets and equipment is critical technologies such as Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) come in. in a healthcare environment to increase staff efficiency, improve operating budgets, and enhance the patient experience.

Stop the search and put the patient first: When RTLS is in place in a hospital, it can provide positive results and experiences. Clinicians can find their mobile assets and equipment more quickly and monitor them more efficiently, spending less time searching and more time caring for patients.

That’s where real-time location systems (RTLS) using active radio frequency identification (RFID)

It’s a proven solution that stands the test of time. When Orillia Soldier’s Memorial Hospital (OSMH) in Orillia, Ontario implemented the GE HealthCare Encompass RTLS solution, it enabled them to realize true efficiencies and benefits in terms of clinician satisfaction, quality of patient experience and the hospital’s bottom line.

As the saying goes, “you don’t