Memorial Hospital Miramar Builds Benefits Onto Its RTLS
The Florida facility deployed an RFID-IR real-time locating system from Versus Technology to improve patient care. Now it also employs the solution to manage room turnover, track and monitor medical equipment, and automate workflow processes.
By Bob Violino
Mar. 15, 2010—When Memorial Hospital Miramar, in Miramar, Fla., opened its doors in 2005, its goal was to provide high-quality health care, efficiently and cost-effectively. To that end, the full-service acute-care hospital, part of the Memorial Healthcare System that has served south Florida's residents for more than 50 years, was designed as a virtually paperless hospital, with digital systems to support the eventual move toward electronic medical records. An RFID-based real-time locating system (RTLS) was a fundamental part of that plan, says Dennis Mikes, the 'facility's director of environmental services.
Among the administrative challenges of operating a large hospital are efficiently tracking the comings and goings of patients, and freeing up health-care employees from mundane tasks so they can focus on treating patients. The RTLS enables hospital personnel to track the locations of patients throughout the facility, as well as manage patient flow. Provided by Versus Technology, the system—known as VISion—combines RFID and infrared (IR) technology to provide the real-time location of patients.
Hospital officials soon discovered even greater value in the system: its ability to automate a number of other workflow processes, so the institution could improve the accuracy of its information, while also providing better services to its patients. The same RTLS network is now being employed not only for patient tracking, but also to manage room turnover, dispense medications more effectively, track a variety of mobile assets and perform other functions.
Mar. 15, 2010—When Memorial Hospital Miramar, in Miramar, Fla., opened its doors in 2005, its goal was to provide high-quality health care, efficiently and cost-effectively. To that end, the full-service acute-care hospital, part of the Memorial Healthcare System that has served south Florida's residents for more than 50 years, was designed as a virtually paperless hospital, with digital systems to support the eventual move toward electronic medical records. An RFID-based real-time locating system (RTLS) was a fundamental part of that plan, says Dennis Mikes, the 'facility's director of environmental services.
Among the administrative challenges of operating a large hospital are efficiently tracking the comings and goings of patients, and freeing up health-care employees from mundane tasks so they can focus on treating patients. The RTLS enables hospital personnel to track the locations of patients throughout the facility, as well as manage patient flow. Provided by Versus Technology, the system—known as VISion—combines RFID and infrared (IR) technology to provide the real-time location of patients.
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| Memorial Hospital Miramar deployed an RFID-IR real-time locating system to improve patient care. |
Hospital officials soon discovered even greater value in the system: its ability to automate a number of other workflow processes, so the institution could improve the accuracy of its information, while also providing better services to its patients. The same RTLS network is now being employed not only for patient tracking, but also to manage room turnover, dispense medications more effectively, track a variety of mobile assets and perform other functions.
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