With the installation of a Real Time Location System, Southeastern Regional Medical Center hopes to reduce inventory costs by tracking hospital equipment and medical devices.
SRMC will implement an RTLS from North Carolina-based RadarFind in its 429-bed facility. Hospital officials say the savings that the tracking system will provide will allow the hospital to expand healthcare services.
SRMC houses the Southeastern Heart Center, which is managed by the Duke University Health System, as well as birthing suites and acute care, intensive care and psychiatric services. It is one of the largest employers in the region, with about 1,800 employees, and includes more than 125 physicians on its medical staff.
RadarFind's indoor tracking system can determine the location of mobile medical equipment throughout the hospital and displays this information on computer screens.
According to Radarfind, the RTLS meets Awarepoint CEO Jason Howe's five priorities that are required for RTLS implementation in a hospital.
First, the system provides room-level accuracy without requiring ongoing calibration. RadarFind tested the system in the entire hospital rather than on one floor or section.
Second, readers plug into existing electrical outlets and avoid interfering with hospital operations and staff processes since there is no need to close off patient rooms during installation.
Third, the intuitive software is simple to use and accommodates hospital staff skill levels.
Fourth, the RTLS system integrates with the hospital's infrastructure and operations, while functioning independently of a hospital's critical WiFi network.
And finally, the return on investment is upfront. Without the costs of installing additional wiring and expanding a WiFi network, hospitals see a rapid ROI. For example, less than a year after installing the RadarFind system, Wayne Memorial Hospital, a 316-bed facility in Goldsboro, N.C., reported that it was able to reduce equipment purchases by more than $300,000.
"We recognized the necessity of an asset tracking system and began our search several years ago. At that time, the systems available did not achieve results that justified their prohibitive cost. RadarFind's unique RTLS system is precise in locating equipment for more efficient maintenance and is a truly cost effective choice for helping us manage our operations," said Charles Brady, director of clinical engineering for SRMC.
RadarFind's advanced asset tags include at least six years in battery life and the ability to mark a device's status as ready, in use or in need of cleaning/sterilization - which hospitals may find as an important indicator for hospital nurses.
"An imperative for our medical center was to find an answer to skillfully monitor our inventory. At any given time we cannot account for about 10 percent of our inventory. We were spending time and resources to track IV pumps, stretchers, wheelchairs and mobile monitors. It was not unusual to realize that when we take inventory of our wheelchairs, close to 90 percent are unaccounted for," said David Sumner, vice president of strategic management and support services for SRMC. "By tracking these items, we can reduce our expenditures on unnecessary new equipment, increase the level of speed and efficiency at which our hospital runs, and improve the overall patient experience."
The system is expected to be fully operational in SRMC by the second quarter of 2008.