Tools to manage and improve your response times
Data. It’s what everyone is talking about, with good reason: it’s the key to improvement. Each day, health systems miss opportunities to collect data for improving operations and patient care.
With RTLS (real-time locating system), you can automatically collect valuable data to fuel improvement in your organization. RTLS badges, tags, and sensory networks are designed to work in the background, communicating locations of people and equipment—accurately, automatically, all the time. With RTLS, better care is within reach.
RTLS also enables hospitals to perform automated contact tracing of staff, patients, and equipment in a way that both optimizes resources and ensures the privacy of staff and patients.
A real-time locating system (RTLS) gives you a bird’s-eye view of patients, colleagues, and equipment
in your health system.
RTLS gathers location data and turns it into actionable insight for better workflow. An RTLS system consists of:
- Badges – worn by people
- Tags – affixed to equipment
- Sensors – placed in the ceiling throughout the facility
- Sophisticated Software
When integrated to Rauland Enterprise nurse call, RTLS enables accurate response time and time-in-room reports and provides convenience features like automatically canceling the call light when staff wearing an RTLS badge enters the patient room. With RTLS, you’ll spend less time looking for staff, and the data gathered will allow you to improve your processes and better support your staff.
Further, an RTLS system can include a “Staff Duress” feature, allowing nurses to send out an emergency alert with their exact location if threatened with violence.
An RTLS System Integrated to Nurse Call Provides Efficiency Benefits and Tools to Manage and Improve Your Response Times
- Staff Presence – The nurse call corridor light will illuminate a color-coded segment when a clinician enters the room. Quickly identify where your techs and nurses are by simply glancing down the hallway and noting the corridor lights showing the rooms where your staff are attending to patients. Using the Rauland PC Console software application, you’ll see a list of staff by unit and their location on the floor.
- Automated Call Light Cancel – For non-urgent calls, simply walking into the patient room with an RTLS badge will automatically cancel an active Call Light in the nurse call system. Staff no longer has to go to the patient station or bath station and physically push the cancel button, reducing the risk of HAIs.
- Response Time Logging – RTLS allows for accurate Response Time reports. Know exactly how long it is taking staff to respond to every type of patient request. Reports showing the frequency of patient requests throughout the day can help with staffing discussions and improve staff satisfaction.
- Time-in-Room tracking provides an accurate accounting of every time a staff member enters a patient room. Not only will you be able to show family members how often you’ve attended to a patient, but also how much time was spent in the room during each visit. RTLS will also give you a clear picture of how each staff member is responding to patient requests, and which patient may require more attention.
- Staff Assist Option – When a staff member presses the Duress button on their badge, security is immediately alerted, sending messages to wireless phones, computer workstations, and email. Although violence against healthcare workers and patients can happen during any point in the care continuum, emergency departments tend to be at a higher risk for acts of violence against staff. Workplace violence and caregiver anxiety can be very costly to your health system. Staff Assist helps facilities adhere to safety guidelines for workplace violence prevention established by The Joint Commission and OSHA. Staff Assist has also been recognized as a best practice for staff safety in The Joint Commission’s Leading Practice Library.
- Additional Features – When linked to Torrence provided Medi+Sign patient engagement whiteboards, the name and photo of staff can be displayed on the patient whiteboard monitor as they enter the room. This simple feature helps patients develop recognition of staff and boosts the comfort and confidence of family members.
Torrence offers best-in-class IR/RF RTLS systems, or cost-effective Wi-Fi/Low Energy Bluetooth systems that utilize the hospital’s existing Wi-Fi network to lower up-front installation costs. Your dedicated Torrence Healthcare consultant can help you decide which system and features will best suit the needs of your hospital.
Case Studies
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