Philadelphia Medical Center uses RTLS to track patient flow, care and training
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More and more hospitals use real-time location systems (RTLS) to locate patients, employees, and medical equipment, and the Albert Einstein Medical Center also uses this type of system. The difference is that this teaching hospital in Philadelphia not only uses RLS for simple tracking, but also uses it to monitor the training of patients and interns, and track the efficiency of the hospital and nurses.
This set of RTLS combines Sonitor’s ultrasound-based indoor positioning system (IPS) and Patient Care Technology Systems (PCTS)’s Amelior EDTracker software. Amelior EDTracker can help the medical emergency department to monitor and analyze the patient’s physical location and the status of their medical care. This information is then displayed in the form of graphs on the computers in the distribution department and on the trolley.
Sonitor’s IPS uses battery-powered tags, which send 20 kHz-40 kHz acoustic signals to the receiver. Through frequency modulation, each tag sends a unique ID code to the receiver. The receiver uses Sonitor’s patented digital signal processing (DSP) arithmetic to calculate the position of the signal and convert them into data. Then, the receiver sends location information and tag data to a central computer via the existing LAN, and this information is then moved to the Amelior EDTracker software.
According to the hospital’s chief medical information officer Dr. Albert Villarin Jr., when the hospital decided to spend $10 million to expand and update the emergency room, it started looking for an automatic patient flow monitoring program and decided to try PCTS’s Amelior EDTracke software .
At that time, PCT software mainly worked with infrared tags, so the Albert Einstein Medical Center initially adopted infrared tracking technology. However, infrared signal transmission requires no obstacles between the tag and the sensor. This creates difficulties for patient tracking, because the patient sometimes inadvertently interferes with the signal transmission between the tag and the reader.
After PCTS and Sonitor cooperated to establish product interoperability, in September 2008, the hospital switched to Sonitor’s ultrasound technology
Now, Albert Einstein Medical Center provides a Sonitor tag for each patient in the emergency department. “We currently have 350 patient tags. On Monday and Tuesday, the tags are used the most,” Villarin said.
The staff can check the patient’s status and location on the computer
When registering for admission, the hospital staff takes a Sonitor label and enters the ID code of the label, the patient’s name and other information into the computer-and then prints a sticker with the ID code and patient’s name printed on it. This label is pasted on the Sonitor label and is pinned to a bright plastic card, following the patient’s movement. When the patient is moved to a room, the plastic card and Sonitor tag are also taken to that room. When the patient is discharged from the hospital, the label is removed from the card and the software system is automatically upgraded; the staff cleans the Sonitor label for next use.
Doctors, patients, and interns also wear Sonitor tags (the hospital has released about 300 tags so far) as part of their employee badges. About 30 medical devices, such as mobile X-ray equipment, are also labeled.
In addition, approximately 75 receivers are installed on the ceiling of the emergency room, at least one in each patient room, and others are distributed throughout the emergency department to capture the signals of the tags. Amelior EDTracker continuously updates the information, providing the hospital with a real-time view of the patient’s location and nursing staff.
When an ambulance brings a patient to the emergency department, the system starts tracking the patient. When the patient was pushed into a room, his location was tracked, and Villarin explained that if a caregiver enters the room, it is also tracked.
Amelior EDTracker is integrated with other medical terminal systems, such as those used in radiology rooms and laboratories. Any treatment received by the patient is manually recorded in the Amelior EDTracker by the nurse. Once the treatment sheet is entered, the system will automatically send it. “In this way, the patient’s location, treating doctors and nurses, and treatment procedures are all recorded. The software also records and upgrades the time and date the laboratory receives samples and completes the test,” Villarin said.
After the RTLS update, the Albert Einstein Medical Center’s revenue increased by US$45 million and the number of patient admissions increased by 24%. The rate of refusal to pay decreased from 3.4% to 2.1%, and the number of people who were discharged early decreased from 5% to 1-2%.
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