DAYTON, Ohio, Oct. 28, 2020 — Midmark RTLS, a leading real-time locating system (RTLS) technology provider focused on clinical workflow solutions and data insights that improve the delivery of care, today announced that the St. Elizabeth Cancer Center in Edgewood, Ky. opened its $130 million state-of-the-art oncology facility using Midmark RTLS to streamline the patient visit and enhance care team collaboration.

Projected to serve about 500 patients each day, the 250,000 square-foot, six-story facility brings all of St. Elizabeth’s cancer treatments into one place: detection, diagnosis and care. “The idea of the building is to combine the care of cancer under one roof,” says Dr. Doug Flora, executive medical director of St. Elizabeth Oncology Services. “Every aspect of this building is to enhance collaboration among care providers and deliver the best patient outcomes.”

The cancer center has been intentionally designed to provide a leading care experience for patients, using Midmark RTLS to streamline patient flow. Patients, providers and staff wear lightweight locator badges that automatically update the Patient Flow Optimization software, giving staff a bird’s-eye view of where patients are, how long they’ve been waiting, who has seen them, and who needs to see them next.
“By knowing where everyone is, and who they interacted with, RTLS can be used for contact tracing, so anyone who comes within six feet of a locator badge can be identified,” adds Flora. “And it lets us identify operational problems. If there is a bottleneck that might slow down our day, we can address it so that everyone stays on schedule.”

St. Elizabeth also uses RTLS to automate notification of chemotherapy delivery to patient rooms. When a pharmacy technician wearing an RTLS badge arrives in the patient room, their presence triggers a visual cue that notifies the infusion nurses that the medication arrived, and the nurse can begin the infusion. This and other real-time indicators help staff proactively reduce patient wait times and support more efficient flow of care.

In addition to real-time patient flow optimization, the system captures an enormous amount of historical data. Using Midmark RTLS reports, administrators can assess data insights on patient wait times, room utilization and more. St. Elizabeth plans to use this data to continually monitor the patient experience and make data-driven process improvements.

While Midmark RTLS helps streamline patient flow efficiencies, the St. Elizabeth Cancer Center is also outfitted with Barrier-Free exam chairs and power procedure chairs to create a better care experience for patients and staff.

U.S. Healthcare Homepage