When we first spoke with the Jackson Health System in Miami, it was clear they required vast network coverage that would make this the largest RTLS system in the healthcare field.
Their goal was to assure equipment loss was at a minimum, while utilization of equipment they own was maximized. This is precisely the right start of the RTLS value curve.
The final build-out would cover nearly 4 million square feet, a large amount of current and future asset tags, and need to view assets across a remarkable 91 floors and 17 buildings, plus parking pavilions and other annex buildings. Only a truly practical, enterprise-wide solution could handle it. Awarepoint deployed an enterprise-wide installation of our Real-time Awareness Solution (RTAS).
Jackson Health System, an integrated healthcare delivery system in Miami, Florida, is now actively tracking 12,000 medical equipment assets throughout the hospital’s widespread, multi-building campus. The health system contract initially specified 11,750 asset tracking tags plus 250 temperature monitoring tags and provides expansion for an additional 8,000 asset tags, bringing the total to 20,000.
With this large network coverage requirement for health resources the community could not be without, fast and minimally invasive installation was imperative to success. Shutting down during installation was not an option. Requiring no hard wiring, the wireless sensor network (WSN) architecture enabled the entire 3.8 million square foot campus installation to be completed in less than six weeks. Tracking High Value Medical Equipment
The healthcare staff now has immediate insight into the location, status and movement of mobile equipment assets. This creates a more efficient environment for staff; reducing lost, stolen or misplaced medical equipment; and increasing equipment utilization so that future purchases and rentals are greatly decreased.
With the sheer vastness of the campus, enterprise resource visibility is a must to ensure quality of care and maximize staff productivity. The Jackson Health System’s deployment provides location accuracy of an average 1.5 meters or better throughout the entire enterprise. This includes in-room accuracy as well as defined area accuracy (in hallways, open areas, closed carts, etc.).
Primary asset categories covered include:
·Infusion, Pain and Fluid Pumps
·Life-critical Respiratory Equipment
·Surgical Generator Carts
·Surgical Light Sources
·Portable Ultrasound Machines
In addition, thousands of specialty and one-of-kind items are monitored, including items required for specific surgeons or procedures, and even mail carts, where workflow efficiency can be a particular challenge due to the massive campus footprint. Further, patient escort services are monitoring the location of wheelchairs and stretchers, the availability of which impact patient wait times and throughput, both customary impediments to satisfaction and the bottom line. Saving money and time
Jackson Health System is governed by the Public Health Trust, a dedicated team of citizen volunteers acting on behalf of the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners to ensure that all residents of Miami-Dade County receive a single high standard of care regardless of their ability to pay.
In today’s economic crisis, the Public Health Trust took a close look at operations and determined enterprise-wide visibility of crucial resources was essential. Especially in this recession, Jackson Health System focused on solutions that offer high and rapid return on investment, while improving quality of care and patient safety. Lost, stolen and misplaced equipment was a key driver of the solution, with specific focus placed on:
·Improving staff work environment (freeing up employees from time-consuming equipment search tasks) ·Materials management efficiency (fewer rentals, maximizing utilization of equipment they own, managing preventive maintenance cycles, reducing equipment shrinkage) ·Process improvement and business intelligence solutions to save both money and time Temperature sensors are a critical element
In addition to locating and monitoring mobile assets, Jackson Health has installed 250 Awarepoint T2T temperature monitoring tags. These tags wirelessly monitor and maintain logs on temperature-sensitive assets such as refrigerators, freezers and warmers. The solution sends real-time alerts for out-of-compliance situations to protect critical temperatures and allow maximum staff response time and accountability. Jackson Health is using these same T2T temperature tags to monitor PACS Radiology data centers. Temperature tags are placed in front of server panels to monitor the ambient temperature and allow staff to utilize external A/C units, when required. As a next step, we will work with the health center staff to review patient flow integration into workflow automation solutions. The goal is to meet departmental throughput needs, in areas such as preoperative services, the emergency department and outpatient services.
We have learned that to support successful integrations, it is important to conduct training and increase awareness of the system. This helps drive meaningful application usage and measureable outcomes. Another outcome is that those using these systems often discover ways to improve workflows and efficiency.
With this deployment behind us, I don't mind sharing how proud I am. I see our technologies and service model as “game changing” in the industry, with our highly scalable, minimally invasive infrastructure and fully managed service model. Jason Howe is Chief Executive Officer of Awarepoint, a San Diego-based firm specializing in Real Time Location Systems and asset tracking management challenges. You can track them down at www.awarepoint.com
