Hospitals, Bathrooms and RTLS: Bathroom Blogfest 2010

Bathroom Blogfest 2010: Hospitals, Bathrooms, Real-Time Locating Systems (RTLS) and Preventing Patient Falls…

My company, Awarepoint, delivers real-time locating systems to hospitals. These systems, dubbed RTLS, provide an indoor locating system (think of them as indoor GPS) for hospitals to track medical equipment, patients and staff members. Hospitals, bathrooms and real-time locating systems – what could possibly be the connection?

One of the challenges hospital nurses face every day is the need to reduce the risk of patient injuries from falls. Although the incidents of patient falls in hospitals are low, the consequences can be serious. At a recent healthcare conference I heard a former Emergency Room nurse speak. She was presenting on the topic of using technology to improve patient care in hospitals, and specifically, on the benefits of real-time locating systems in hospitals. In discussing patient safety issues, she talked about how RTLS technology can be used to send reminders to nurses to cue them to visit patients every hour. This happens to be one the best practices for preventing patient falls.

Why would an hourly visit by a nurse help prevent patient falls? And what does that have to do with bathrooms?

Well, one of the biggest fall hazards in hospitals are patients who try to climb out of bed on their own to get to the bathroom. Some don’t want to “bother” the nurse by asking for help, others may be under the influence, or have mental health issues. Studies show that by visiting a patient room every hour, nurses can regularly check on the patients’ needs using the “4 Ps” - positioning, personal needs (sometime they actually call this “p” “pee” ), pain and proximity of personal items.

There's another aspect of Hospitals, Bathrooms and RTLS worth addressing; it relates to the equipment patients use when they can't physically make it to a bathroom.

In addition to sending reminders to nurses, RTLS technology helps nurses find the equipment they need when they need it to care for patients. They simply log onto a computer, type in the equipment they are looking form, and voila! its location pops up on a map of the hospital floor they’re on. Pretty cool, huh? Guess what? In looking at the top items nurses ask to be tagged, we find bedside commodes top the list!

Preventing patient falls and helping nurses to find the equipment they need, RTLS plays a vital role at hospitals in addressing bathroom needs and patients’ “4 Ps.”

So, in the spirit of the Bathroom Blogfest 2010, I share with you a quick look at bedside commodes, or hospital “bedpans” as we non-clinical folks still call them, through the eyes of Bedpan collector, Erik Eakin.

Customer Experience in Hospitals: Why Bathrooms Matter!

Bathroom Blogfest 2010: Customer Experience in Hospitals… Why Bathrooms Matter!

Today’s post is my first experience with Bathroom Blogfest, which I understand has been going on since 2006, and offers insights from bloggers from around the globe talking about – you guessed it – bathrooms. I think the original focus was around bathrooms and the retail customer experience, but here I am, a healthcare technology blogger, going to make a “go” at this (pun very much intended). So… hospitals, bathrooms and customer experience – what could possibly be the connection?

Well, actually, measuring patient satisfaction in hospitals is a key metric for most hospital administrators, and the hospital bathroom is large part of that experience!

You may not be aware, but most hospitals have surveyed patients for their own internal use for years to ascertain patient satisfaction with their experience at the hospital. The objective is to obtain a patient’s overall rating of the hospital, and learn whether the patient would recommend it to friends and family. You would think that a patient’s perception of a hospital would be based on the clinical care they received while there, right? Well, actually, not really. Patients assume they will receive high quality clinical care at the hospital and really have no basis to compare the efficacy of their care. Unless they experience a serious clinical error, the actual clinical experience would be rated as excellent (e.g., “I went in for an appendectomy, my appendix was removed, I woke up in recovery = excellent clinical experience”).

Studies have shown that patients' perception of their hospital experience actually has to do with the following eight key topics: communication with doctors, communication with nurses, responsiveness of hospital staff, pain management, communication about medicines, discharge information, cleanliness of the hospital environment, and quietness of the hospital environment.

In 2006, in an effort to create a national standard for collecting and publicly reporting information about patient experience of hospital care, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) introduced The HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) survey. This is the first national, standardized, publicly reported survey of patients' perspectives of hospital care. HCAHPS (pronounced “H-caps”), also known as the CAHPS® Hospital Survey, is a survey instrument and data collection methodology for measuring patients’ perceptions of their hospital experience.

Three broad goals have shaped HCAHPS. First, the survey is designed to produce data about patients’ perspectives of care that allow objective and meaningful comparisons of hospitals on topics that are important to consumers. Second, public reporting of the survey results creates new incentives for hospitals to improve quality of care. Third, public reporting serves to enhance accountability in health care by increasing transparency of the quality of hospital care provided in return for the public investment.

Tying this all back to the 1960s is a bit of a challenge, but I did find this great blog post on Nursing in the 1960s so you can see what it was like back in the days of Don Draper. I can say that at least hospitals seem much more interested in the patient experience today, and less focused on the antiquated and elitist antics that were once so prevalent in the physician/nurse relationship (although I’m sure some of that still exists today).

So, what does that have to do with bathrooms and patient experience? Out of 26 questions asked of patients following a hospital stay, 3 are directly related to bathrooms:

Q. During this hospital stay, how often were your room and bathroom kept clean?
A. Never | Sometimes | Usually | Always

Q. During this hospital stay, did you need help from nurses or other hospital staff in getting to the bathroom or in using a bedpan?
A. Yes | No

Q. How often did you get help in getting to the bathroom or in using a bedpan as soon as you wanted?
A. Never | Sometimes | Usually | Always

Interesting that these questions are just as important to the patient experience as whether you were treated with courtesy and respect, if you felt listened to, how well your pain was controlled, whether treatments were explained to you in a way you could understand.

On a scale of 1-10, patients are asked to rate the hospital where 0 is the worst hospital possible and 10 is the best hospital possible – and obviously, bathrooms matter – even in hospitals!

~ Valerie Fritz

PS: The 2010 Bathroom Blogfest Participants include the following bloggers and blogs. You can follow the week’s activities on Facebook and via Twitter if you follow #BathroomEXP:

Blogger	Blog Name	Blog URL
Susan Abbott	Customer Experience Crossroads	http://www.customercrossroads.com/customercrossroads/
Paul Anater	Kitchen and Residential Design	http://www.kitchenandresidentialdesign.com/
Shannon Bilby	Big Bob's Outlet	http://blog.bigbobsoutlet.com/
Shannon Bilby	Carpets N More Blog	http://blog.carpetsnmore.com/
Shannon Bilby	Dolphin Carpet Blog	http://blog.dolphincarpet.com/
Shannon Bilby	From The Floors Up	http://fromthefloorsup.com/
Shannon Bilby	My Big Bob's Blog	http://blog.mybigbobs.com/
Toby Bloomberg	Diva Marketing	http://bloombergmarketing.blogs.com/
Laurence Borel	Blog Till You Drop	http://www.laurenceborel.com/
Bill Buyok	Avente Tile Talk Blog	http://tiletalk.blogspot.com/
Jeanne Byington	The Importance of Earnest Service	http://blog.jmbyington.com/
Becky Carroll	Customers Rock!	http://customersrock.net/
Marianna Chapman	Results Revolution	http://www.resultsrevolution.com/
Katie Clark	Practial Katie	http://practicalkatie.blogspot.com/
Nora DePalma	American Standard's Professor Toilet	http://www.professortoilet.com/
Nora DePalma	O'Reilly DePalma: The Blog	http://www.oreilly-depalma.com/blog/
Leigh Durst	LivePath Experience Architect Weblog	http://livepath.blogspot.com/
Valerie Fritz	The AwarepointBlog	http://www.awarepointblog.com/
Iris Garrott	Checking In and Checking Out	http://circulating.wordpress.com/
Tish Grier	The Constant Observer	http://spap-oop.blogspot.com/
Renee LeCroy	Your Fifth Wall	http://yourfifthwall.com/
Joseph Michelli	Dr. Joseph Michelli's Blog	www.josephmichelli.com/blog
Veronika Miller	Modenus Blog	http://www.modenus.com/blog
Arpi Nalbandian	TILE Magazine Editor Blog	http://www.tilemagonline.com/Articles/Blog_Nalbandian
Maria Palma	People 2 People Service	http://www.people2peopleservice.com/
Reshma Bachwani Paritosh	The Qualitative Research Blog	http://www.onqualitativeresearch.blogspot.com/
David Polinchock	Polinchock's Ponderings	http://blog.polinchock.com/
Victoria Redshaw & Shelley Pond	Scarlet Opus Trends Blog	http://trendsblog.co.uk/
David Reich	My 2 Cents	http://reichcomm.typepad.com/my_weblog/
Sandy Renshaw	Around Des Moines	http://www.arounddesmoines.com/
Sandy Renshaw	Purple Wren	http://www.purplewren.com/
Bethany Richmond	Carpet and Rug Institute Blog	http://www.carpet-and-rug-institute-blog.com/
Bruce Sanders	RIMtailing Blog	http://rimtailing.blogspot.com/
Steve Tokar	Please Be Seated	http://stevetokar.wordpress.com/
Carolyn Townes	Becoming a Woman of Purpose	http://spiritwomen.blogspot.com/
Stephanie Weaver	Experienceology	http://experienceology.blogspot.com/
Christine B. Whittemore	Flooring The Consumer	http://flooringtheconsumer.blogspot.com/
Christine B. Whittemore	Simple Marketing Blog	http://www.simplemarketingblog.com/
Christine & Ted Whittemore	Smoke Rise & Kinnelon Blog	http://smokerise-nj.blogspot.com/
Christine B. Whittemore	The Carpetology Blog	http://carpetology.blogspot.com/
Linda Wright	LindaLoo Build Business With Better Bathrooms	http://lindaloo.com/

RTLS in Healthcare Presentations from RFID in Health Care East

RTLS in Healthcare presentations from RFID in Healthcare East are now available for download!

RFID in Healthcare East was a grand success! Gregg Stepp of Texoma Medical Center and Allyn Whaley-Martin of Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center provided thorough, engaging presentations on the value of RTLS in their hospitals.

As promised, here is the link and password to access their presentations:

To access the presentations, please visit: www.rfidjournalevents.com/pres_healthcare10east.php.

When you click on a session title to download that presentation, you will be prompted to enter a username and password. Each is case-sensitive:

Username: hc2010east
Password: phil201010

1. Tracking and Managing Assets With RFID - Gregg Stepp, CMRP, @Texoma Medical Center [for additional perspective on this presentation, see RTLS Client Spotlight: Texoma Medical Center]]

2. Regional Medical Center Uses RTLS to Improve Efficiencies - Allyn Whaley-Martin, @ Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center [for additional perspective on this presentation, see RTLS Client Spotlight: Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center].

Enjoy, and feel free to contact the awarepointblog@gmail.com if you would like to connect with either of these speakers for more information.

~ Valerie Fritz

Equipment Challenges For Nurses

If You’re Considering RTLS, You’ll Find This List Detailing Equipment Location Challenges for Nurses Insightful.

During our RTLS sales and implementation process, Awarepoint spends a significant amount of time understanding the biggest areas of impact RTLS will have on hospital operations. Of course, we focus a lot of time understanding what equipment challenges matter most to patient care, and these answers, not surprisingly, come from nurses.

The below list was generated from interviews with nurses across departments at one of our hospitals. It’s so interesting to see how many of the same equipment challenges cross different nursing departments, and also how specific the equipment challenges can be for individual departments.

As you implement RTLS, or move through the ROI analysis to justify an investment in RTLS technology, I thought you might find this list useful. I challenge you to get input from all stakeholders in your organization to understand:

• What are their constraints, what frustrates them?
• What impacts their workflows?
• What challenges to they have with equipment availability? How does that affect patient care?

Click on image for larger view.

The above list reflects what matters to nurses at this specific hospital. You’ll also want to involve physicians, biomedical engineers, materials management, pharmacy staff, lab and radiology technicians, physical therapists, respiratory therapists, transporters, lift technicians, information technology, security, support services, safety officers. Each of these departments should be asked: What are your special needs? What metric drive success of your department?

If you address the primary equipment challenges of these groups in a meaningful way, your RTLS deployment is sure to provide long term clinical and financial success.

From RTLS in Healthcare to Real-time Awareness Solutions

It’s Time to Change the Market Definition of RTLS in Healthcare from Location to Awareness

Awareness versus Location:
Awareness: noun: the ability to perceive, to feel, or to be informed about events, objects or sensory patterns
Location / Locate: noun: the act or process of locating; verb: to identify or discover the place or location; to find by searching

I had the opportunity to meet and hear from Ann Grackin of ChainLink Research at the recent Intelligent InSites Partner Summit. Ann presented a compelling story outlining RTLS and her vision of Connected Health - one that I believe makes a strong case for changing the market definition of RTLS in healthcare to RTAS [i.e, from Location to Awareness]. Ann has since followed up with a 2 part digital article entitled Connected Health – Second Decade Model in Healthcare.

In Connected Healthcare – Part Two, she describes the real-time location of people, places and things in a healthcare environment. I do like much of what Ann says about the future vision of RTLS in healthcare, but I also think she misses the mark a bit on the current state of the market and the technologies within it.

Ann describes a scenario that “Real-time Locating Systems (RTLS) has been making an entree in the hospital environment. The concept is simple—medical equipment is expensive, and hospitals usually buy more than they seem to need, since when you need it—you must have it. Lives are to be saved, patients are to be transported, tests are to be done, and so what is the big deal about buying extra?”

Well, from our experience, a hospital buying more equipment than it seems to need IS a big deal. The article confirms that RTLS projects for tracking equipment are useful and have ROI, but compete for investment dollars along with many other expenses (such as a new MRI machine or the latest equipment for a cutting edge procedure). I couldn’t agree more.

However, this is a system that truly produces a RETURN on investment by assisting hospitals in “right-sizing” their equipment purchases, reducing the amount of money they spend on unnecessary equipment rentals, and helping put a stop to lost, stolen and misplaced equipment.  It actually puts more dollars in hospital coffers allowing them to purchase the very items she discusses. We see it all the time – UCSF Medical Center, within the first few months of implementing their RTLS system, saved nearly $250,000 in eliminating planned equipment purchases for only 2 inventory items in the operating room. This money was immediately reallocated to allow the hospital to purchase the latest and greatest equipment for a new, non-invasive, surgical procedure.

Implementing RTLS on an enterprise-wide basis to solve asset management challenges allows hospitals to make the investment in a networked awareness infrastructure, at low risk, so that they can achieve Ann’s future vision: “leverage the concept on a much larger scale; not only track but also monitor everything—events, people, staff, patients and assets—not just the ‘stuff in the room’ but the room itself, in order to optimize the entire operation, improve patient care, increase revenue and save money”. In other words, Real-time Awareness Solutions for healthcare!

I get the impression that Ann supports leveraging the Wi-Fi network for RTLS. We’ve outlined the numerous challenges with that approach before, and I won’t belabor the point here, other than to say that perhaps the low uptake she describes for RTLS in healthcare can be somewhat tied to the market’s overpromising and under-delivering of Wi-Fi-based RTLS functionality. Check out “Wi Not Wi-Fi” written by David Hoglund of Integra Systems, where he describes why the “just add water” story Wi-Fi marketers publicize loses steam in real-world applications. Although Wi-Fi-based RTLS is often considered, it's not the best choice for long term clinical and financial ROI from an RTLS deployment.

Awarepoint is a proud partner of Intelligent InSites - we were just honored as their Integration Partner of the Year - and we believe in the company’s platform approach as hospitals move up the value chain of enterprise awareness to leverage dozens of additional opportunities beyond just location. To achieve this distinct capability, the right networked awareness infrastructure must be in place from the beginning – one that provides complete enterprise coverage, in-room location accuracy, plus sophisticated interaction detection, alerting, reporting and interoperability to support healthcare’s enterprise awareness needs today and in the future.

We're also excited about the future of connected health, both within the acute care market and beyond, and have been pushing for the market definition to expand well beyond “location” to “awareness”. These RTLS systems are certainly no longer just about location; they can provide location, status, movement, condition monitoring and contextual interaction to drive quality of care, cost containment, risk mitigation and revenue generation initiatives throughout the hospital.

Asset management truly is just the beginning, but starting there provides a methodically planned and phased approach that is low risk and high reward to the hospital and offers multiple additional opportunities!

We're proud that Awarepoint is quickly becoming a leading provider of RTLS in healthcare, representing 80 hospital sites, 118,315 assets under management, and over 38 million square feet of networked awareness coverage in U.S. healthcare. We have developed a depth of experience in this market and the opportunities inherent to progressing from real-time location to real-time awareness solutions and would love to chat!

Thanks, Ann, for an insightful article.

5 Critical Success Factors For RTLS in Healthcare: Finding Lost Hospital Equipment

Lost and Found: Why the 5 Critical Success Factors for RTLS in Healthcare Really Matter

I just came across an article in Health Facilities Management digital magazine called “Lost + Found” written by Alan Dash, associate partner at Syska Hennessy Group.  Originally published in November 2009, it only surfaced in my Google® alerts last week. Nonetheless, I found the article interesting because it highlights the importance of the 5 Critical Success Factors for RTLS (1. Enterprise-wide coverage, 2. Real-time, room-level location accuracy, 3. Minimally invasive installation and low total cost of ownership, 4. Interoperability and 5. Flexible, proven business model) for healthcare.

Dash's article focuses on hospitals and healthcare systems, and installation of tracking systems for equipment, personnel and patients. It attempts to explain both passive RFID and real-time location system (RTLS) use cases. The author tries to answer the question whether a health care facility needs the real-time locating power of RTLS or if it can be satisfied with the spot-locating ability of a simpler RFID system. You can read the entire article here.

In my opinion, the piece doesn’t really go deep enough to understand the very distinct and separate use cases applicable to passive RFID vs. RTLS, but overall, the evaluation steps outlined make sense:

1. Form a committee of all stakeholders that may be impacted
2. Make a checklist of all items that you believe warrant coverage by the location system
3. Consider the use cases that have the best opportunity for return on investment
4. Consider current practices, and understand the main “pain points” of each of your stakeholder groups
5. Decide on the level of detail needed for each use case (the author is referring to location accuracy and concludes that the more granular the search, the more the search costs).

I do disagree with the author on a couple of key points: First, Dash states that you should “determine if the entire campus, the main hospital building or a few key areas within a building need to be covered. Go small, prove the concept, check the return on investment and then take the next step.”

In our experience, a system for the mobile equipment tracking challenges represented in the piece will not prove its value if the network is available only in a few key areas of the building. When evaluating a passive RFID solution to solve a very specific problem, such as counting and verifying the number of items in surgical trays, or supply chain inventory management for disposables used in the operating room, this might work.

But with RTLS for mobile equipment management, if the entire enterprise is not covered, it can take as little as a few days for staff to understand the coverage areas, and for tagged items to again go missing, or be hidden, in these uncovered areas. This completely defeats the use cases outlined for a real-time location system. Physical assets such as carts, wheelchairs, beds, pumps, vents and specific types of medical devices move throughout the entire facility. Visibility into the real-time location of these assets is critical to most hospital use cases for RTLS.

Equipment hoarding is another area mentioned. As Dash states: “Hoarding is another potential driver and hiding medical equipment is about as much of a problem in health care as the nurse shortage. When staff locates a normally hard-to-get item, they will sometimes hide it in a closet, medication room, clean supply space or any number of other places where no one else can find it. Hoarding costs money—equipment that does not "exist" cannot be counted and therefore needs to be replaced.”

Again, with an equipment tracking network that only covers a few key areas of the building, or shows only the last known location of an item, the hoarding problem cannot be effectively addressed. Hiding places can and will continue to exist without an enterprise-wide tracking network.

In addition, staff adoption of tracking technology is grossly impacted when there are missing coverage areas in the enterprise. Consider a nurse searching for a piece of equipment that is “off the map” (e.g., outside the networked coverage area). Staff likely won’t understand items can only be found if they exist in a particular key area of the building, they will simply assume the system doesn’t work.

I am in complete agreement with Dash that hospitals can go small, prove the concept, and check the ROI before taking the next step. However, with RTLS, starting small should be focused on a particular class of equipment, for example, all IV pumps; or all wheelchairs and gurneys. This “go small, prove the concept” approach is reflected in the number of tags initially purchased, but should still include enterprise-wide network coverage to truly assess the value.

The other area I’m in conflict with is “Of course the more granular the search, the more the search costs. Most location systems can get granular because the manufacturer adds more access points. Associated with these additional access points are electrical costs, operational costs and maintenance costs.”

Dash seems to be assuming Wi-Fi-based RTLS systems are the only option available to hospitals. For Wi-Fi-based systems, additional access points, secondary technologies, electrical costs, operational costs and maintenance costs can all add to the total cost of ownership. But, there are other technologies, purpose-built for RTLS, where these factors do not exist. Since this is the AwarepointBlog, I’ll point to ZigBee-based technologies, but there are others as well…

In my extensive experience with RTLS in healthcare, the 5 critical success factors are key to long term clinical and financial outcomes. These critical success factors remain:

1. Enterprise-wide coverage
2. Real-time, room-level location accuracy
3. Minimally invasive installation and low total cost of ownership
4. Interoperability
5. Flexible, proven business model

There is a proven return on investment for RTLS in healthcare for mobile equipment management if these 5 Critical Success Factor practices are followed. Awarepoint has demonstrated time and time again in documented cost-saving metrics associated with Tracking, Rentals, Utilization, Shrinkage and Temperature Monitoring of mobile equipment assets. Revenue generating use cases like operating room management, bed management, and emergency department workflows are beginning to get traction as well.

As always, I’d love to hear from hospitals that have implemented, or are considering implementing, tracking systems. What are the key factors in your assessment of this technology?

ZigBee RTLS to Track 81st Medical Group Hospital Equipment

Tracking Medical Equipment at Keesler Air Force Base's 81st Medical Group Hospital using ZigBee based active RFID RTLS

Today I’m sharing a post from the Armed with Science blog entitled Tracking Medical Equipment Using Radio Waves, written by Larry George about the 81st Medical Group Hospital at Keesler Air Force Base which is utilizing ZigBee-based active RFID and software from Shipcom Healthcare Solutions for tracking medical equipment.

Larry currently serves as a contract project manager for the Center for Partnerships in Research and Technology (CPRT) in the Office of the Assistant Air Force Surgeon General for Medical Modernization.  He describes in this post an application in the CPRT Automated Identification and Data Collection (AIDC) project that used Radio frequency ID (RFID) tags to improve asset management for mobile medical devices in the 81st Medical Group Hospital facility. He also outlines how they used real-time location system (RTLS) applications and some of the benefits that resulted.

I had an opportunity to connect with Scott Cobb, SVP Healthcare & Federal Systems at Shipcom Wireless who confirmed that since the blog post was written, the solution has received Department of Defense Information Assurance Certification and Accreditation Program (DIACAP) Authority to Operate (ATO). [See press release announcing US Air Force Medical Service Grants Shipcom - Healthcare Solutions Authority to Operate (ATO) under the Defense Information Assurance Accreditation and Certification Process (DIACAP).]

Larry points out a couple of key advantages of the ZigBee RTLS network solution, as well as some of the tangible benefits the 81st Medical Group Hospital team has experienced so far.

• Non-disruptive installation was key. The ZigBee RTLS network was created with sensors that plug into standard 120v outlets. There were no wires to pull – a big advantage in terms of not disrupting patient care and avoiding dust abatement problems had they needed to drill holes or disturb ceiling tiles to install the solution.

• The entire hospital and nearby clinic were installed in about a week and half.

• Medical equipment repair techs have experienced a reduction in average “time-to-find” an item from over 26 minutes per search to around 2 minutes per search.

• During normal monthly equipment maintenance, 100% of tagged items were located. During the same time, some untagged items could still not be located at month’s end.

• Larry discusses expansion of the system to clinical staff, which he believes will lead to savings through reduced inventory. Most importantly; however, he notes improved patient care capability as a key driver.

• The initial net benefits over costs have been validated with nearly 3,000 wasted man-hours per year. For Keesler, this equates to nearly $500,000 and will result in the ability to reduce contracted maintenance. Bringing this maintenance back in house has turned the time savings into real hard-dollar savings.

My favorite part of this blog post is Larry’s final statement: “Health-care workers can now quit wasting time trying to find things and get back to our core service – Quality Patient Care.”

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves!

Awarepoint at Cerner Corporation's 2010 Annual Conference

Track Down Awarepoint at Cerner Corporation’s 2010 Annual Conference: Awarepoint Real-Time Awareness Solutions -- RTLS for Hospital Asset Tracking

Click on image for larger version.

We’re so excited to be participating in the Cerner Health Conference next week. For those not familiar, the Cerner Health Conference (CHC) is Cerner’s annual industry-leading event for healthcare leaders, clinicians, information technology specialists, practice managers, employers, consumers and industry professionals. Attendees learn about key issues affecting healthcare, network with peer organizations and explore Cerner and their partners’ solutions in the Solutions Gallery. You can view the CHC 2010 Agenda here. [Note: links to PDF which will require you to click 'yes' or 'open' to download.]

The CHC starts on Sunday, October 10 and runs through Wednesday, October 13 at the Kansas City Convention Center in Kansas City, Missouri. Awarepoint will be participating in the Solutions Gallery at Booth #911. Stop by to learn more about what the Awarepoint Real-time Awareness Solutions® and Cerner Enterprise Positioning Solution™ partnership offers.

Click on image for larger version.

By the way – you could win an iPad® just for stopping by. Visit us at the show and let Ben Sperling, Awarepoint’s VP of Business Development, show you a live demo. You’ll be entered to win an 16GB WiFi iPad!

RTLS Client Spotlight: Texoma Medical Center

Viewpoint: Skytron, powered by Awarepoint RTLS Client Spotlight on Texoma Medical Center

Gregg Stepp, Director of Supply Chain Operations at Texoma Medical Center will be presenting his hospital’s RTLS story at the upcoming RFID in Healthcare East conference being held October 12, 2010 at the Radisson Plaza-Warwick Hotel in Philadelphia. I spoke with Gregg recently to get a preview of what he’ll be presenting at RFID in Healthcare East:

Background

Texoma Medical Center deployed an enterprise-wide RTLS system from Skytron, powered by Awarepoint. The deployment covers this 235 bed acute care facility located about 70 miles from the Dallas metroplex. The enterprise encompasses an 8-story, 325,000 square foot tower which Texoma Medical Center moved into in late 2009.

Gregg is responsible for supply chain operations at Texoma Medical Center. Currently, his department has 16.5 full-time employees and services 5 departments: purchasing, central supply, warehouse, print shot and document services. As part of its duties, supply chain operations is responsible for managing moveable medical equipment, equipment par level replenishment, operating room (OR) materials management, capital asset management, supply order replacement, on-site equipment distribution, and management of both an off-site warehouse and off-site record storage. Knowing the location and status of equipment is key to the department’s ability to operate efficiently, and finding equipment is exacerbated by numerous hiding places and constant building additions and renovations.

What were the unique challenges that led Texoma Medical Center to an RTLS system?

“Because of the difficulty in finding available equipment, there was a lack of confidence in the Materials Management team by Nursing staff. The reverse was true as well; the Materials Management team was experiencing a lack of trust with the Nursing department. We could never find equipment – but whose fault was it?”

You mentioned difficulty in finding equipment and a lack of trust between departments. Can you elaborate on other problems associated with finding equipment?

“Sure, everyone’s goal here is the same – to have working equipment available when it’s needed for patient care. One particular area of contention was around Sequential Compression Devices, or SCDs. Texoma Medical Center was originally provided budget for 75 SCDs. In 2008, we were provided an additional 17, as not having equipment continued to be a perceived problem. Even with 92 on hand, we continued to have problems locating them. Many times we would only have 70 patients in the building, and still couldn’t find an available SCD.

Another issue – this equipment is rented, and if the units cannot be found to be returned to the rental company, the hospital has to “buy” the lost rental equipment. I recall an incident in 2008 where we had to buy an SCD machine to replace a rental that had been lost. Not only that, we paid $1,600 in rent before we knew it was lost! I’d have to say, that incident was really a big part of the tipping point in searching for a solution. Since RTLS, we literally have no more conversations about 'where are our SCD machines?'.”

In addition to SCD problems, did you have any other specific challenges that you were trying to address with RTLS?

“There were also ongoing problems finding other high-demand equipment, for example, PCA pumps; feeding pumps and Wound V.A.Cs. Similar challenges to the SCD machines, and an ongoing lack of confidence between departments.”

Helping overworked staff is typically a value driver for RTLS. Was this an issue for Texoma Medical Center? Have you been able to show results in how the system has improved the work environment and efficiency for staff?

“Yes, another big issue was the incredible staff workload demands and associated job satisfaction issues. In 2007, my department had 31 full-time employees. We are now down to 16.5 and have absolutely no extra staff to help do “Easter egg” hunts to find equipment. That doesn’t change our goal to be 100% responsive to clinical needs - to be able to provide the right equipment as soon as it is called for. A solution was needed that could eliminate this big time waster and dissatisfier. We have documented several key staff satisfaction and efficiency metrics after RTLS implementation. In the Materials Management department, we now spend 75% less time looking for equipment; 50% less time in preparing equipment, and we have a 100% SATISFACTION RATE WITH MATERIALS MANAGEMENT STAFF!

In addition, all employees, from Central Supply to Nursing, have 24-hr access to locate equipment before they actually need it, so that staff is not in reactive mode. Our facility satisfaction is off the charts: 73% feel good or very good about Asset Tracking; and 99% feel their workflow is improved with Asset Tracking.

Thanks Gregg! We can’t wait to see what promises to be an engaging presentation at RFID in Healthcare East.

Remember, join us at RFID in Healthcare East in Philadelphia on October 12 to hear directly from Gregg when he’ll detail Texoma Medical Center’s RTLS value drivers, address the additional questions and challenges below, outline his ROI metrics and next steps, and will be available to take your direct questions:

• Discover how to pay for RTLS with limited capital funds

• Hear how Texoma Medical Center tracks and manages rental equipment from the point it enters the building until it is picked up

• Learn the dramatic reductions in time staff spent searching for patient care equipment, as well as increases in Biomedical equipment preventative maintenance

• Find out how Texoma Medical Center’s capital equipment needs are reduced with the ability to find equipment

• Find out what’s next for Texoma Medical Center and RTLS, including temperature monitoring applications and visiting vendor tracking.

Remember, the conference is October 12 at the Radisson Plaza-Warwick Hotel in Philadelphia, where you can hear Gregg Stepp, along with Allyn Whaley-Martin of Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, among other prestigious healthcare presenters. We hope to see you there!

RFID in Healthcare East - RTLS For Hospital Asset Tracking: Oct. 12, 2010

Considering a Real-time Location System? RFID in Healthcare East is just around the corner!

We'd love to see you on October 12 in Philadelphia for a lively agenda and vendor demonstrations all about Real-time Location System (RTLS) for Hospital Asset Tracking.

Join Awarepoint at RFID in Health Care East and hear from leading healthcare providers how RTLS asset tracking is helping to improve patient care while cutting costs.  I’m particularly delighted to confirm that the following Awarepoint clients will be presenting their stories at this event:

Gregg Stepp, CMRP, Director of Supply Chain Operations, Texoma Medical Center

9:45 a.m. “Tracking and Managing Assets with RFID”

Texoma Medical Center, an acute-care hospital located in Denison, Texas, is utilizing an enterprise-wide RTLS to track and manage mobile medical equipment and monitor temperature-sensitive assets. In this session, learn how the hospital is lowering costs in the areas of capital budget reallocation and monthly rental savings, while reducing the incidence of lost or missing assets. Also hear how the medical center is using temperature-monitoring tags to proactively manage the temperatures of nourishment and medication refrigerators throughout its facility.

Allyn Whaley-Martin, Director of Safety, Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center

4:00 p.m. “Regional Medical Center Uses RTLS to Improve Efficiencies”

Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, a 740-bed community hospital in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has more than 1,000 physicians and 4,000 team members. The facility undertook an enterprise-wide RTLS deployment that covers almost 1 million square feet, with nearly 6,000 assets under management. In this session, learn how to understand end-user goals, facilitate change management, drive user adoption, develop business standards, and find out how the medical center is using its RTLS system to favorably impact capital dollar allocations, as well as safety and nursing efficiency.

You’re Invited on Awarepoint! RFID in Health Care East will be held at the Radisson Plaza-Warwick Hotel (1701 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103) on October 12, 2010. First 5 AwarepointBlog readers to RSVP via this link will receive a COMPLIMENTARY REGISTRATION PASS.

Hurry – space is limited!