From the January/February 2016 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine


Carlin from MD Buyline thinks that wristbands and passive RFID devices for patients will be used more frequently in the years to come. The nurse will have a scanner if administering meds, and scan the band to track correct dosage of medication in the EMR. She emphasizes that facilities must take the initiative. “Investing in RTLS has to be followed up with changes in policy and procedure based on the data generated,” she said.

Cook of Stanley also notes the potential of the technology for medical error reduction: “To monitor drug delivery the system could kick off an order for the equipment and drug to be delivered and give the order to the nurse. We can tell if the pump was there and ran, and medication was delivered, for 30 minutes. In principle, the facility could ask: is this the right type of pump for this location? An adult pump formulary in a pediatric environment could be flagged. That’s the kind of thing we may be able to do in the future.”



Part of an ever-increasing digital future
The future of RTLS appears to be more about the integration of systems infrastructure, software and applications across the spectrum to provide contextual information for patient movement, staff workflow, task completion and communication among care providers. Developing interconnected platforms that encompass the EMR, medical devices, RTLS and smart-phones will enable more broad scope applications with enhanced interoperability and will allow for more focus on enhancing the patient experience, best practices, and quantifying not just the what, but the how of clinical outcomes.

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