Real Time Location Systems (RTLS)
Finally Delivering on the Promise In Healthcare
The concept of Real Time Location System (RTLS) is fast catching up in industries that require constant tracking of their highly mobile personnel and movable assets. Quick response time, safety and security issues, and efficient asset management are factors that support the implementation of RTLS. Industries like healthcare, manufacturing and distribution benefit the most from this new technology. In hospitals RTLS can:
- Help in locating healthcare personnel in an emergency,
- Track the movement of patients for effective throughput management and patient safety,
- Alleviate security concerns by monitoring unauthorized access to neonatal nurseries in hospitals,
- Track expensive equipment like infusion pumps to minimize location time and for better inventory control thereby reducing rental and purchasing costs etc. • Enhance process flow to maximize bed turnover rates and increase throughput in operating rooms by prompt location of equipment and personnel. According to a Frost&Sullivan report, studies and pilot programs have shown a decrease in length of hospital stay by over 20 % and bed turnover rates of less than 10 minutes upon RTLS installation. This could potentially decrease patient wait time and emergency room stay significantly. Implementation of RTLS was found to provide a substantial return on investment for organizations in the range of 100% to 150% in some pilot installations
TPC Healthcare utilizes CenTrak’s patented InTouchCare™, a hybrid technology that combines a new generation of Infrared and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) to track people and equipment to a room and individual bay. CenTrak developed InTouchCare™ technology to provide a “location‐certainty” by overcoming the inaccuracies of “location‐estimation” hindered by issues of RF penetration of walls, ceilings and floors. Centrak has hit the value intersection in RTLS by providing an infrastructure the combines highlevel precision, excellent battery life and low cost of installation. Used in combination with the right application software, TPC Healthcare can offer healthcare customers a software platform that can start as a simple tracking solution and grow into a sophisticated location‐aware workflow automation solution.