RTLS system helps improve patient satisfaction and treatment efficiency in Sunnyvale Clinic
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Since opening last week, the Sunnyvale Clinic of the Stanford Children’s Health Service System has received higher satisfaction levels than the other 60 clinics in the system. Lee Kwiatkowski, manager of Stanford University’s child monitoring system, said that the high degree of satisfaction is largely due to the RTLS system in use.
Sunnyvale Clinic has 20 clinical specialties, including endocrinology, urology and pediatrics, and juvenile specialties. The clinic has a two-story building with an area of 77,000 square feet, which is equipped with a phototherapy room, a radiation room, and a 6000 square foot high-tech laboratory for the diagnosis and treatment of children’s sports injuries. In addition to providing pediatric medical services, the clinic also has a reproductive health department.
In order to manage the movement of patients and staff between these departments, the clinic has installed the Advantages Clinic RTLLS system provided by Versus Technology, which aims to reduce waiting time and improve the efficiency of check-in procedures. Kwiatkowski said that the adoption of RTLS is of great significance to new clinics, as it can avoid a series of problems faced by large clinics.
Kwiatkowski said: “Knowing the patient’s waiting time and why is a problem facing the hospital.” The clinic wants to see the real-time location of patients and their families. In other cases, the patient may make appointments for several departments at the same time, which makes it difficult for the hospital to determine the location of the patient. The clinic also wants to ensure that patients do not spend too much time waiting in the waiting room alone.
Kwiatkowski said that in addition, the clinic also wants to be a more humane institution, and does not want patients to sit in a crowded waiting room waiting for staff to call.
By using RTLS technology, the clinic can receive and treat patients more efficiently and ensure that they are reminded at the appointment time. The system uses a badge with built-in Versus Clearview battery-powered active 433MHz RFID and infrared tags. Each badge sends a unique identifier to nearby receivers via wireless or battery-powered V-Link. Sunnyvale issued a total of 400 badges to patients and staff. The badge can be clipped to the clothing of a person, so that the sensor on the ceiling can read the ID number sent by the badge. The Clearview badge has a button for patients to call for assistance. The clinic also attached Versus Asset tags to other assets such as wheelchairs and blood pressure monitors.
When the patient arrives at the hospital, the staff will introduce the program to the patient and distribute a badge to the patient and his family. The ID number transmitted by the badge is stored in the RTLS software, bound with patient information and integrated with the electronic medical record (EMR) system.
The waiting room aims to provide a comfortable waiting environment. The waiting room of the clinic is divided into an area, some with TV, some for children to play. A receiver is placed in each area so that the system knows which specific area the patient is in.
Two 55-inch TV screens are placed in the staff area of each department. This screen will display the location data of personnel and assets collected by the RTLS software and a list of waiting patients.
When the treatment room is available, employees will access the RTLS software to check the location of the patient, and then escort him into the treatment room. The software can then track how long the patient waits and how long it takes to see a doctor.
After the patient sees a doctor, the technology can judge based on the badge reading, and then update the status of the treatment room to be cleaned. Then, the patient needs to put the badge in the box. After the badge is cleaned, it will be redistributed to the next patient. Two badge recycling boxes were installed at the hospital exit.
A total of 500 sensors have been installed in the clinic. Some sensors are used to identify the location of the patient, while others are used to provide bed-level accuracy in the rehabilitation area.
The clinic can accommodate 100 to 200 patients every day. In the six weeks since its opening, the clinic’s patient satisfaction has been incredibly high. Satisfaction scores often reflect the acceptable waiting time for patients. At the same time, the technology will also increase the satisfaction of clinicians and other employees.
Kwiatkowski said that he and his team are studying how to improve efficiency based on read data, determine where the bottleneck is, and optimize patient arrangements.
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