Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital Tracks Trays Packed With Surgical Instruments

The ability to track the trays from assembly to surgery helps to ensure surgical instruments are ready when doctors need them, Guastella says. "We have a high volume of specialty surgeries here," she explains, "and when surgeons come in to do their surgeries, if the tray isn't already in the OR, we have to find the trays. I don't want to have a surgeon waiting while we are looking and hunting for the tray."

Now, a nurse can go to the nearest computer, access Amelior ORTracker, and search for a specific tray by entering the type of surgery, or the doctor's name. "The software will show the nurse, within 8 feet, where that tray is," Guastella states.

In the coming months, Armstrong says, several workflow features—such as watch lists for high-demand trays, and warnings triggered if dirty trays are taken into a clean area—will be incorporated into the hospital's implementation. Additionally, PCTS will help the hospital integrate Amelior ORTracker with the surgical scheduling system so that trays can be associated with patients and their specific surgeries, thereby enabling nurses to search for and track particular trays via the appropriate patient names.

What's more, Guastella says, the hospital plans to use the RTLS and Amelior ORTracker to monitor patients, and hopes to begin doing so in the next couple of months. "One of the things we've been looking for," she states, "is a system that has a high degree of automation and can track the patient in a very passive way. We didn't want the nurses to have to put more information into a patient chart; the nurses are very busy, as you can imagine. We want the technology to work for them."

According to Guastella, a tag will be clipped onto the gown of each patient admitted for surgery. The tag's ID number will be associated with a number assigned to that patient during admission, and only that individual's ID number will be displayed on a screen in the patient waiting room. "The family will know that number," she says, "and they will be able to see as the patient moves from pre-op to the OR to the recovery room. Patients' families really love to have those kinds of updates."