ED Tracking Systems

The Emergency Department (ED) is both a primary site of care for many and an important entry point into the hospital. As a result, many EDs are overcrowded. To increase capacity and improve quality, EDs have turned to patient tracking systems.

One such system is made by Logicare.

As well as tracking a patient’s location in the ED, i.e. whether the patient is in the waiting room or in an examination room, it shows the name, age, and sex of that patient, their complaint, the RN and MD that saw them, length of stay, and any lab or radiology tests that may have been ordered. In some systems, RFID bracelets are used for automated entry of the patient’s location.

A recent survey of California hospitals showed that 69% used an ED tracking system. The two major reasons cited for using these systems was to improve quality of care and patient satisfaction. Users expressed high satisfaction with most features of ED tracking systems, such as ability to pull real-time data, user-friendliness, and ability to enter orders in a single location. However, users were unsatisfied with the ability to interact with other IT systems and physiologic/vital signs equipment. This seems to be a recurring theme in healthcare IT systems, and solutions to integrate the different IT systems used by healthcare organizations will have to be developed if adoption of IT by hospitals is to be improved.