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Mary Washington Hospital to Deploy RFID Facility-Wide
With the cardiac telemetry units tracked by RadarFind's RTLS, hospital staff members will be able to instantly determine where in the hospital the patient wearing a particular unit is located, and more quickly get help to that individual if required. Nurses at Mary Washington Hospital typically keep tabs on patients by communicating with them and checking their charts, but if a patient wanders down to the cafeteria without alerting anyone and experiences a problematic change in heart rate, it may take several minutes to locate that particular patient. With the RTLS, Holden says, this can be accomplished much more quickly.
In addition, the hospital will be able to track the locations of the cardiac telemetry units even when they are not on patients. The units are costly, averaging $3,000 apiece, and are often misplaced or lost. Sometimes, the devices are left on a patient's bed, and then mistakenly rolled up into the bed linens and sent out with the laundry. "Are they going out in the laundry, or in patients' suitcases? We don't know," Holden says.
Once the system is installed—which will comprise approximately 500 tags (including those designated for use with the cardiac telemetry units), 350 interrogators plugged into outlets, and 20 collectors—the hospital plans to set up audible and visual alerts that staff members can view on their computers at specified areas, such as at the hospital entrance, and develop processes for handling those alerts.
In addition to tracking the cardiac telemetry units and other equipment, the RadarFind tags—thanks to their status feature—will help the hospital monitor whether a device has passed through the appropriate decontamination process before being assigned to another patient.
"I'm very excited about the opportunities this system is going to provide us," Holden states. "It is going to change the way we do business. So much of our time is lost looking for equipment, or not knowing where equipment and people are, and this is going to make it so much easer to find equipment and allow us to improve customer service. We'll be able to provide a wheelchair when a patient needs it, for instance."
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In addition, the hospital will be able to track the locations of the cardiac telemetry units even when they are not on patients. The units are costly, averaging $3,000 apiece, and are often misplaced or lost. Sometimes, the devices are left on a patient's bed, and then mistakenly rolled up into the bed linens and sent out with the laundry. "Are they going out in the laundry, or in patients' suitcases? We don't know," Holden says.
Once the system is installed—which will comprise approximately 500 tags (including those designated for use with the cardiac telemetry units), 350 interrogators plugged into outlets, and 20 collectors—the hospital plans to set up audible and visual alerts that staff members can view on their computers at specified areas, such as at the hospital entrance, and develop processes for handling those alerts.
In addition to tracking the cardiac telemetry units and other equipment, the RadarFind tags—thanks to their status feature—will help the hospital monitor whether a device has passed through the appropriate decontamination process before being assigned to another patient.
"I'm very excited about the opportunities this system is going to provide us," Holden states. "It is going to change the way we do business. So much of our time is lost looking for equipment, or not knowing where equipment and people are, and this is going to make it so much easer to find equipment and allow us to improve customer service. We'll be able to provide a wheelchair when a patient needs it, for instance."
