RFID tags make hospital equipment management easier

From the organisational and management point of view, a modern hospital is an extremely complex system. Efficient running of a hospital can therefore be a daunting task but is nevertheless called for more and more since increased efficiency in the management of hospital facilities can not only result in significant savings but also in improvement in patient outcomes. One of the most difficult aspects of modern hospital management is keeping track of the many portable and movable pieces of equipment, whose physical location in the hospital can vary enormously, depending on the use the patient is making of the equipment.Items such as IV pumps, specialised mattresses or even apparently mundane pieces of equipment such as wheelchairs can at any one time be located almost anywhere in the hospital. Frequently, hospitals are required to compensate for their ignorance of the precise whereabouts of their own property by purchasing more items than would otherwise be necessary. The use of modern Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems is a cost-effective method of managing such movable but important equipment. Here we look at how two Belgian hospitals have implemented their RFID systems.

St Trudo Regional Hospital, Sint Truiden, Belgium
Located in the Flemish-speaking part of Belgium in the town of Sint Truiden, the St. Trudo Regional Hospital is a 310-bed hospital that serves the Limburg and Vlaams-Brabant regions of the country. Its 700 employees and 80 doctors care for more than 11,000 patients admitted to the hospital annually. The hospital recently installed a wireless network and uses this infrastructure to support Wi-Fi-based active radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags, in particular to track and manage expensive specialty mattresses, IV pumps and wheelchairs that are required throughout the facility. St. Trudo also uses the wireless network to accurately monitor the temperature inside the hospital’s data centre.The specialty mattresses, known as anti-decubitus mattresses, help prevent pressure sores in patients who must remain in the hospital for extended periods. The hospital’s mattresses, as well as the IV pumps and wheelchairs are in constant use and continual movement throughout the facility. Before installing the new asset tracking solution, staff often had to manually search the entire facility to locate needed equipment, which wasted a substantial amount of time and reduced overall utilisation of the patient care equipment. Moreover, when the required equipment wasn’t readily available, the hospital often had to rent others, incurring significant expenses and delays.To solve this problem, St. Trudo implemented Wi-Fi-based RFID tags and AeroScout’s MobileView software. The tags are attached to the specialty mattresses, IV pumps and wheelchairs, enabling accurate, real-time visibility and management of those assets. The system is also set up to alert hospital personnel when the number of wheelchairs available for use reaches a critically low level, or whenever a wheelchair is inactive for two hours so that it can be returned to the reception area. In addition, Wi-Fi-based temperature-monitoring application is installed in St. Trudo’s server room (see technology primer opposite). The application also uses the wireless infrastructure to transport information — in this case, temperature readings — to the network. This enables the hospital’s IT department to remotely monitor the temperature of the room from anywhere in the hospital, or even to transmit alerts to the home of the appropriate facilities engineer. “The new system has made a significant improvement in the way we operate,” said Daniel Loos, manager, information technology, at St. Trudo. “The staff are more satisfied and much more efficient with their time. With the new system, we have been able to increase the utilisation of expensive mattresses, IV pumps and wheelchairs, as well as reduce expenses related to renting extra equipment. Best of all, we can improve service and care for patients who require the use of the tracked equipment.”

Jan Yperman Hospital, Ypres, Belgium
Housed in a brand new building inaugurated in 2007 and featuring state-of-the-art telecommunications systems, the Jan Yperman hospital in Ypres, Belgium, has about 550 beds, 1,000 employees and 100 doctors. Each year, the hospital accepts 15,000 patient admissions and 18,000 one-day hospitalisations. The hospital has opted for for a “Wi-Fi–Based Active RFID solution”, based on a Telindus LAN and WiFi system for tracking patients and medical equipment in real time. Approximately 1,000 pieces of equipment (infusion pumps, wheelchairs, beds, patient monitors, etc.) were fitted with Aeroscout Active RFID tags, not only saving medical staff precious time in locating these assets, but also making it easier for managers to maintain them, establish an inventory and reduce the risk of theft. Temperature-monitoring tags are used for refrigerators containing lab specimens, blood bags and other temperature-sensitive items. Such continuous monitoring ensures safe operation and correct temperatures. Approximately 400 tags with call buttons ensure better protection for medical staff, who are sometimes confronted with aggressive patients. The tags are also a useful tool for keeping track of disoriented patients such as those suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.