Healthcare professionals have dreamed of a tool that tells them patient location live. An anesthesiologist may desire to know if a patient is already in the prep unit. A surgeon would like to be alerted when the patient is already in the operating room. An ICU nurse manager would like to be able to tell when a patient leaves the OR. Knowing the location of a patient allows healthcare providers to anticipate workload and better coordinate care.
The advent of bar code technology made possible the development of early tracking systems in 1989 (1, 2). Bracelets containing unique bar codes were fastened to patients, and the bracelets were scanned as the patient moved between different locations. In the following two decades, newer technologies were developed. Today, patients wear RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification) bracelets that are detected by sensors throughout a medical institution and automatically update the patient’s location in his/her record (3). Rather than simply transmitting location, RFID-based systems allow for enhanced care by performing functions such as auto-tracking clinical interventions at the bed side (4) and monitoring and reporting vital signs (5).
The purpose of this blog is to review patient tracking systems used by hospitals to monitor patients throughout their visit. I will attempt to cover some of the different platforms available and some of the settings in which they are used. I will also cover the operational, clinical, customer service, and financial benefits, if any, of tracking patients in a medical services institution.
Refs:
1. Zerbe TR. Engineering methods in an ambulatory surgery clinic: a case study in computerized patient tracking. J Ambul Care Manage. 1989 Nov;12(4):48-60.
2. Zerbe TR and Zerbe, SD. Analysis of Patient Service Time in Ambulatory Clinics: Patient Tracking. Proc Annu Symp Comput Appl Med Care. (1990) November 7: 840–844.
3. Ting SL, Kwok SK, Tsang AH, Lee WB. Critical Elements and Lessons Learnt from the Implementation of an RFID-enabled Healthcare Management System in a Medical Organization. J Med Syst. 2009 Dec 2.
4. Ohashi K, Ota S, Ohno-Machado L, Tanaka H. Smart medical environment at the point of care: auto-tracking clinical interventions at the bed side using RFID technology. Comput Biol Med. 2010 Jun;40(6):545-54.
5. Ohashi K, Kurihara Y, Watanabe K, Tanaka H. Safe patient transfer system with monitoring of location and vital signs. J Med Dent Sci. 2008 Mar;55(1):33-41.
