Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital (OSMH) is implementing a GE Healthcare equipment tracking system officials say will improve patient experience, reduce wait times, and support health-care providers in their efforts.
A Canada first, the GE Healthcare Real Time Location System uses a tracking system called EncompassTM, with tracking beacons and asset tags placed on department walls and medical equipment.
A cloud-based, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi tracking system then allows health-care workers to determine the exact location of equipment through their workstations or cellphones, wherever they are in the hospital.
The new system will save staff hours of time locating equipment, officials said.
“In a nutshell, we can instantly find any one of our assets anywhere in this building,” said Tom Roberts, chief financial officer and executive vice-president of corporate services at OSMH. “What that means is gone are the days of having to walk through multiple units, trying to find a missing wheelchair. Gone are the days of sending emails throughout departments, trying to locate a blood pressure cuff.”
When testing the new system, Jo-Anne Chandler, OSMH’s director of materials management, said staff were able to locate a bladder scanner far quicker than by traditional means.
“We (tested) the traditional way of calling each department, looking for it, and then going and retrieving it, and that exercise took about 40 minutes,” Chandler told OrilliaMatters. “Then we did the test with the new system, and they were able to locate it within three minutes, and somebody had to go direct to that room and get it. It was a huge time-saving initiative.”
Officials said the technology will lead to better patient experiences, on top of making work more efficient for hospital staff.
“This is also an incredible win for patients,” Roberts said. “Simply put, less time looking for equipment means that staff are spending more time with patients. That’s increasing the patient experience and leads to better patient outcomes.”
Mark Riczu, executive director of the OSMH Foundation, welcomed the new equipment.
“People need (equipment), they borrow it, they share it between departments, they forget to return it, because we’re all human after all … With real-time locating of all essential portable medical equipment, the equipment that our donors invest in will have greater utilization,” Riczu explained.
In addition to location tracking, the new system stores data that will aid in extending the life of medical equipment.
“It will tell us (the equipment’s) last preventative maintenance and when it’s next due so that we can be kept up. We’ve got our current acquisition dates on here as well, so we know how old that piece of equipment is, and then we can start planning for future capital (for when) we need to start replacing equipment,” said logistics supervisor Shannon Gray.
“A lot of times, when you don’t have an accurate database, you can’t keep those logs, you don’t know when something’s been taken care of.”
