http://www.thertlsblog.com Its all about real time location and security. Mon, 26 Jul 2010 16:18:13 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc http://www.thertlsblog.com/rtls-can-impact-nurses%e2%80%99-time-spent-on-direct-patient-care http://www.thertlsblog.com/rtls-can-impact-nurses%e2%80%99-time-spent-on-direct-patient-care#comments Wed, 12 May 2010 16:34:53 +0000 Ajay Malik, Author RTLS for Dummies http://www.thertlsblog.com/?p=1895
Yes, RTLS enables hospital administrators the ability to increase oversight of millions of dollars worth of hospital-owned equipment to maximize their financial benefits. But, isn’t the true mission of any hospital really centered around the ability to provide quality care?

Yes, financial returns are indeed important. A hospital CFO once said to me “there’s no mission without money”. RTLS provides financial returns on increasing equipment utilization, reducing rentals, and impacting lost or misplaced equipment which are typically enough to pay for the system. These business drivers are the financial catalyst for getting an RTLS project approved.

But the real bottom line of any hospital technology is its impact on quality of care – and who impacts that more than hospital nurses?

No one wants nurses to spend their day dealing with equipment problems. RTLS helps provide the right equipment, in the right place at the right time, with nurses focused on patients instead of equipment. RTLS allows them to do what they do best (and what we all count on for ourselves and our loved ones) – care for people! More direct patient face time and a safer environment to provide care are the “soft” savings associated with RTLS, but in my opinion, really the most important ones. ]]> http://www.awarepointblog.com/2010/05/rtls-can-impact-nurses-time-spent-on.html

]]> http://www.thertlsblog.com/rtls-can-impact-nurses%e2%80%99-time-spent-on-direct-patient-care/feed 0 http://www.thertlsblog.com/awarepoint-rtls-asset-management-announced-at-university-of-toledo-medical-center http://www.thertlsblog.com/awarepoint-rtls-asset-management-announced-at-university-of-toledo-medical-center#comments Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:57:43 +0000 Ajay Malik, Author RTLS for Dummies http://www.thertlsblog.com/?p=1763
Awarepoint provides a ZigBee-based (www.zigbee.org) real-time awareness and condition sensing network, including real-time location (RTLS) applications and all hardware, software, installation and maintenance. When initially deployed, 1,000 medical equipment items were tagged, including IV pumps, patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) pumps, telemetry transmitters, continuous positive air pressure machines (CPAPs), and more. In October 2009, UTMC extended its relationship with Awarepoint to a new three year contract adding 1,500 additional asset tags (www.awarepoint.com/tags.html), including approximately 50 temperature monitoring tags.

Not long ago, a misplaced piece of medical equipment could be the catalyst for a major search. "In a hospital setting, sometimes it's a challenge to find certain mobile pieces of equipment," said Steve Hanenkrath, manager of technology support on Health Science Campus. "There were times my IT staff and staff from central services would lose a few hours of the workday just looking for IV pumps."

The Awarepoint Real-time Awareness Solution applies wireless technology to locate tagged hospital equipment enterprise-wide. Sensors that have been plugged into wall outlets throughout UTMC form a wireless network that pinpoints tagged equipment and transmits its location to an internet site. "The equipment tags talk to the wall sensors," Hanenkrath explained. "The sensors then talk to a router that transmits a message to an asset tracking management Web site."

The result is a system that can track a single piece of equipment to a room and to within three feet of its real-time location anywhere in the enterprise. Pat Nopper, UTMC manager of distribution services, uses the enterprise tracking system every day. "This allows me to make sure patients get the equipment they need as soon as possible," she said. "I can find things immediately from my desk. For instance, we have one piece of equipment we use for bariatric patients. Right away, we know what floor it's on and what room it's in from my desk, instead of searching on foot."

Moving beyond the initial "search and locate" phase of the system, UTMC has worked with Awarepoint's Client Services Team to apply business intelligence rules that provide proactive management of resources. Equipment, Nopper noted, no longer comes back to her department. Instead, it is re-distributed from its last location for more efficiency. The system also has the capability to alert hospital staff when a tagged item moves to a certain point beyond UTMC's perimeter.

Awarepoint's Real-time Awareness Solution aims to streamline clinical processes by having the right resources at staff's fingertips when needed, reduce patients' wait times, more efficiently manage preventive maintenance and recall notices on medical equipment and help UTMC save money.

"Each client is uniquely different but our management strategies are scalable to meet those differences," said Tammy Moore, Vice President of Client Services. Awarepoint account managers continually drive best practices to maximize the value of each client's enterprise awareness infrastructure. "Success is measured by ROI outcomes and through deployment strategies, usage goals, growth and overall client satisfaction."

"The real test of any company's value and customer service comes in having satisfied customers extend and broaden their relationship," said Awarepoint's CEO, Jason Howe. "We look forward to continuing this mutually beneficial relationship for many years." ]]> http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Awarepoint-Corporation-1077070.html

]]> http://www.thertlsblog.com/awarepoint-rtls-asset-management-announced-at-university-of-toledo-medical-center/feed 0 http://www.thertlsblog.com/congratulations-awarepoint-for-award-for-best-application-of-wsnrtls-at-idtechex-event http://www.thertlsblog.com/congratulations-awarepoint-for-award-for-best-application-of-wsnrtls-at-idtechex-event#comments Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:18:50 +0000 Ajay Malik, Author RTLS for Dummies http://www.thertlsblog.com/?p=1705
Awarepoint won this award for is deployment of RTLS/WSN at Jackson Health Systems. Awarepoint is currently tracking 12,000 medical equipment assets throughout the Jackson Health System’s nearly 4,459,000 million square foot, multi-building campus (also encompassing 91 floors and 17 buildings). With Jackson Health System’s large network coverage requirement, fast and minimally invasive installation was imperative to success. Requiring no hard wiring, Awarepoint’s “plug and track” network is a fully managed service, including hardware, software, remote monitoring and maintenance. With its patented wireless sensor network (WSN) architecture, Awarepoint completed the entire installation in less than 6 weeks. ]]> http://www.awarepoint.com

]]> http://www.thertlsblog.com/congratulations-awarepoint-for-award-for-best-application-of-wsnrtls-at-idtechex-event/feed 0 http://www.thertlsblog.com/skytron-contracts-with-premier-for-rtls-to-premier-members-nationwide http://www.thertlsblog.com/skytron-contracts-with-premier-for-rtls-to-premier-members-nationwide#comments Fri, 04 Sep 2009 16:56:29 +0000 Ajay Malik, Author RTLS for Dummies http://www.thertlsblog.com/?p=1414
"Skytron is extremely excited to partner with Premier in bringing RTLS solutions to their members' hospitals," said Mike Breslin, Skytron Corporate Accounts Director. "Skytron Asset Manager will have a direct impact on each member's bottom line and allow them to utilize their limited resources to provide the best healthcare possible. Premier took notice of an opportunity to help their member hospitals and has moved to capitalize on those real dollar savings quickly."

Skytron Asset Manager is specifically designed to boost productivity, lower equipment costs, improve workflows, and optimize utilization of critical assets. Skytron Asset Manager utilizes Awarepoint's patented ZigBee (www.zigbee.org) wireless sensor network technology that is easy to use and install, without disruption to patient care or existing IT infrastructure. Sensors simply plug into electrical outlets to form an enterprise-wide wireless network. Low-power active RFID tags are attached to equipment, which can then be located through the enterprise with one to three meter in-room location accuracy. A comprehensive reporting suite provides business intelligence about the location, status, movement and usage of mobile medical equipment. Skytron offers its RTLS as a fully managed service, providing hardware, software, installation, maintenance and ongoing support. ]]> http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/skytron-contracts-with-premier-for,945175.shtml

]]> http://www.thertlsblog.com/skytron-contracts-with-premier-for-rtls-to-premier-members-nationwide/feed 0 http://www.thertlsblog.com/edward-j-zander-former-motorola-ceo-and-sun-microsystems-president-joins-awarepoint-board-of-directors http://www.thertlsblog.com/edward-j-zander-former-motorola-ceo-and-sun-microsystems-president-joins-awarepoint-board-of-directors#comments Tue, 01 Sep 2009 10:28:49 +0000 Ajay Malik, Author RTLS for Dummies http://www.thertlsblog.com/?p=1286
Zander was most recently chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Motorola. During his tenure, he sharpened Motorola's edge in technology innovation; delivered on 12 consecutive quarters of revenue growth; streamlined the business to increase operating efficiencies worldwide; significantly improved the balance sheet and acquired and divested businesses to strengthen the company's competitive position. ]]> http://www.marketwatch.com/story/edward-j-zander-former-motorola-ceo-and-sun-microsystems-president-joins-awarepoint-board-of-directors-2009-08-31

]]> http://www.thertlsblog.com/edward-j-zander-former-motorola-ceo-and-sun-microsystems-president-joins-awarepoint-board-of-directors/feed 0 http://www.thertlsblog.com/christiana-care-selects-asset-management-software-from-pctszigbee-from-awarepoint http://www.thertlsblog.com/christiana-care-selects-asset-management-software-from-pctszigbee-from-awarepoint#comments Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:10:37 +0000 Ajay Malik, Author RTLS for Dummies http://www.thertlsblog.com/?p=1263 --
Patient Care Technology Systems (PCTS), a subsidiary of Consulier Engineering, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSLR), today announced that Christiana Care Health System, Wilmington, DE has selected the company's Amelior Tracker(R) system to automatically track and manage the hospital's assets throughout their two facilities. Christiana Care is one of the mid-Atlantic region's largest not-for-profit healthcare providers including Christiana Hospital in Newark, Delaware, and Wilmington Hospital in Wilmington, Delaware. Together, the hospitals have over 1,100 licensed hospital beds, support over 42,000 surgical procedures and admit more than 55,000 patients annually. Christiana Care will integrate the Awarepoint Real-time Location System (RTLS) to provide automatic location data capture to the Amelior Tracker end-user software. Awarepoint serves its U.S. healthcare customers through its exclusive distribution partnership with Skytron. Christiana Care has been a workflow automation partner with PCTS since 2004. Throughout the last five years, Christiana Care has implemented Amelior EDTracker(R) in both Christiana Hospital and Wilmington Hospital. The software's impact has allowed the combined emergency departments (ED) with over 160,000 ED visits a year, to achieve 100% real-time location of patients, as well as decrease wait time and increase patient and staff satisfaction. ]]> http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS254032+27-Aug-2009+MW20090827

]]> http://www.thertlsblog.com/christiana-care-selects-asset-management-software-from-pctszigbee-from-awarepoint/feed 0 http://www.thertlsblog.com/awarepoint-appoints-dr-dennis-oleary-president-emeritus-of-the-joint-commission-as-chief-strategy-officer http://www.thertlsblog.com/awarepoint-appoints-dr-dennis-oleary-president-emeritus-of-the-joint-commission-as-chief-strategy-officer#comments Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:04:54 +0000 Ajay Malik, Author RTLS for Dummies http://www.thertlsblog.com/?p=1205 Prior to his time at The Joint Commission, O'Leary served as Dean for Clinical Affairs at the George Washington University Medical Center in Washington, D.C. and Vice President of the George Washington University Health Plan. At George Washington, he achieved the faculty rank of Professor of Medicine and served as Medical Director of the University Hospital. O'Leary has been active in a variety of professional activities. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and served as a member of the board of directors of the National Quality Forum and as a member of the National Advisory Council of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. In 2000, he was identified by Modern Healthcare as "one of the 25 most influential leaders in health care." O'Leary earned his medical degree from Cornell University Medical College, New York, NY, and his bachelor's degree from Harvard College, Cambridge, MA. Awarepoint is growing its health care vision to a new generation of connected health solutions and is actively building an ecosystem of partners that will enable it to expand its location-aware technologies (www.awarepoint.com/technology.html) for use in a wider range of applications and service offerings. ]]> http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Awarepoint-Corporation-1034716.html

]]> http://www.thertlsblog.com/awarepoint-appoints-dr-dennis-oleary-president-emeritus-of-the-joint-commission-as-chief-strategy-officer/feed 0 http://www.thertlsblog.com/rtls-asset-tracking-san-joaquin-community-hospital-selects-skytron-awarepoint http://www.thertlsblog.com/rtls-asset-tracking-san-joaquin-community-hospital-selects-skytron-awarepoint#comments Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:44:54 +0000 Ajay Malik, Author RTLS for Dummies http://www.thertlsblog.com/?p=1117 San Joaquin Community Hospital is initially tracking its high value mobile assets including wheeled beds, gurneys, computers on wheels, IV and PCA pumps, telemetry and vital signs monitors. In addition to ease of locating assets, the RTLS solution provides staff with proactive insight into the movement and status of equipment assets. For example, date-driven reporting streamlines the task of tracking and recording equipment nearing scheduled maintenance requirements; stationary asset alerts notify staff of equipment that is not in use, decreasing costly idle assets and reducing equipment rentals required. San Joaquin Community Hospital is also using temperature monitoring tags (www.awarepoint.com/Tags.html) to oversee pharmacy refrigerator temperatures, and alert if temperatures are out of range.
"We are always looking for innovative tools to support patient care initiatives and particularly in these economic times, must be very strategic in our purchase decisions. With Skytron Asset Manager, we are able to improve patient care; while at the same time have a positive impact on staff efficiency with proactive tools to reduce our equipment costs. We looked at this as a true win-win-win situation for our patients, our staff and our bottom line," said Sam Itani, San Joaquin Community Hospital's Vice President.
"Skytron Asset Manager, powered by Awarepoint, delivers a well-planned and coordinated RTLS solution that puts cost saving, tracking flexibility and location awareness at the fingertips of a healthcare provider. Gained efficiencies improve performance at every level instantly boosting real-time productivity, lowering equipment costs, maximizing visibility and improving workflows," said Skytron President & CEO David M. Mehney. ]]> San Joaquin Community Hospital Selects Skytron, Powered by Awarepoint, for Their RTLS Enterprise-Wide Asset Tracking Solution

]]> http://www.thertlsblog.com/rtls-asset-tracking-san-joaquin-community-hospital-selects-skytron-awarepoint/feed 0 http://www.thertlsblog.com/awarepoint-corporation-named-alwayson-global-250-winner http://www.thertlsblog.com/awarepoint-corporation-named-alwayson-global-250-winner#comments Wed, 22 Jul 2009 22:03:51 +0000 Ajay Malik, Author RTLS for Dummies http://www.thertlsblog.com/?p=886 http://in.sys-con.com/node/1042798

]]> http://www.thertlsblog.com/awarepoint-corporation-named-alwayson-global-250-winner/feed 0 http://www.thertlsblog.com/aurora-gets-asset-tracker http://www.thertlsblog.com/aurora-gets-asset-tracker#comments Wed, 22 Jul 2009 17:04:23 +0000 Ajay Malik, Author RTLS for Dummies http://www.thertlsblog.com/?p=881
Aurora gets asset tracker: Aurora Health Care has tapped Patient Care Technology Systems (PCTS), a subsidiary of Consulier Engineering, to deploy its Amelior Tracker system throughout its St. Luke’s Medical Center campus. The Amelior tracker will be used to automatically track and manage over 3100 hospital assets throughout their 538-bed, 1.65 million square foot center. As part of the deal Aurora will integrate a Real-time Location System (RTLS) from Skytron, powered by Awarepoint to provide location data capture to the Amelior Tracker end-user software. ]]> http://mobihealthnews.com/3319/shorts-fda-oks-st-jude-device-auroras-asset-tracker/

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