Awarepoint Corporation announced a medical center-wide installation of its Real-time Location System (RTLS) at Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside, California. Following successful deployment in its surgical department, Tri-City Medical Center has now expanded the Zigbee-based Awarepoint RTLS to actively track nearly 1,000 medical equipment assets throughout the 515,000 square foot campus.
Tri-City Medical Center is wirelessly tracking a variety of high volume medical equipment including Alaris infusion and PCA modules, crash carts, defibrillators and InfoV.A.C. therapy systems. The Medical Center is also tracking limited, one-of-a-kind and high-value items such as an Argon Laser, specialty supply carts, microscopes, video towers and monitors. "The catalyst to our relationship at Tri-City Medical Center was the Surgical Services department," said Kenny Woods, Awarepoint's Senior Vice President of Sales. "The Awarepoint system is especially useful in the Surgical Services department where timely locating and managing of equipment is particularly crucial to both patient care and the hospital's bottom line."
Anytime technology can be used to ease the strain on hospital staff and improve patient care services, it is a welcomed addition. "With Awarepoint, locating and managing of tagged equipment is now as easy as a click of the mouse, which is invaluable when minutes matter," said Mary Diamond, Tri-City Medical Center's Director of Surgical Services.
The Awarepoint RFID-RTLS system offers both real-time location of equipment with active alerting and reporting capabilities. For example, Tri-City Medical Center recently implemented an active alert to notify staff if an InfoV.A.C. unit approaches any exit. "We have nine InfoV.A.C. therapy units and know this equipment should never leave the acute care area. If one is heading toward an exit, we want to know immediately," continued Diamond.
Having this immediate location insight creates a more efficient environment where lost, stolen or misplaced equipment is reduced, equipment utilization increases, and future purchases and rentals are vastly decreased. "In addition to more cost effective inventory management benefits, with the Awarepoint system in place, staff can quickly and easily locate equipment in real-time, which allows them to do what they do best -- spend more quality care time with patients," continued Suellyn Ellerbe, Chief Operating Officer/Chief Nurse Executive.
"As with other healthcare facilities, Tri-City Medical Center sought a RTLS solution that offered enterprise-wide coverage, room-level location accuracy and interfaces that were easy to use. We are proud to add Tri-City Medical Center to the growing family of hospitals that recognize that RTLS can impact positive clinical outcomes, efficient medical equipment utilization and oversight, and effective use of limited staff resources," said Jason Howe, Awarepoint's Chief Executive Officer.
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