Hospital members like Chief Operation Officers, COO, face challenges to design hospital-wide operations due to growing numbers of mobile equipment and consumables which results in a decline in efficiency, unnecessary search time, and coordination efforts to manage hospital-wide resources. On an operational level this means that Medical Technicians and Biomedical Engineers are asked to ensure high equipment availability for clinical workflows and efficient utilization of mobile devices across departments to ensure cost-effective care delivery, in reality "doing more with less" by reducing the downtime of valuable equipment and better distribution.
A real-time location-based Internet of Things, IoT solution such as Philips PerformanceFlow1 delivers benefits by providing automated vendor-neutral insights on the whereabouts of mobile assets in hospitals and information about usage patterns, for e.g. ultrasound devices, infusion pumps, cardiotocographs, blood pressure monitors, oxygen tanks, wheelchairs, stretchers, etc. Hospitals also benefit from process automation and thus, eliminating operational inefficiencies and manual data entry.
Read our latest whitepaper to understand how location-based information combined with data from smart devices and the existing IT ecosystem can make the difference for your processes. Our experts explain which Real-time Location System, RTLS technology is most suitable for your particular use case and how the future of tracking will look like.
We aim to have the right assets available at the right time in our buffer locations. With PerformanceFlow, we have an accurate overview of our inventory, will receive automated notifications and work orders in real-time. This allows us to streamline and automate our processes and therefore, granting us time to focus on patient care."
Marcel van Keeken – Coordinator central management medical technology, Radboudumc, The Netherlands
Number of assets per bed have increased from 8 to 13, partly, because resources are not shared2
The average utilization of mobile devices in hospitals is an anemic 42%2 so there is high potential to do more with less and thus, become more sustainable
Hospital staff spends 20 to 30 minutes per shift searching lost equipment3
On average, hospitals own 25% more equipment than necessary4
Staff shortage, poor well-being and burnout are more common due to 25.8% higher stress levels for healthcare professionals5
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It is challenging for hospital staff to continuously determine the whereabouts of assets, resulting in inefficient use of their equipment and the need for significantly higher stock levels than required. The PerformanceFlow solution provides real-time asset tracking with insights on the location, automatically calculates the distance to each asset, and visualizes all equipment on a hospital-wide floorplan via user-friendly dashboards – jointly developed with end users.
Many asset types are used daily. It is of great importance to have the right asset available at the right time. In order to achieve this, it is essential to facilitate the integration of existing hospital IT data sources with the location, status, and maintenance window of all available assets. Improving the process based on pre-defined rules saves a significant amount of time and increases staff satisfaction.
Creating automatic status changes such as making assets available when entering a dedicated storage location, in use once connected to a patient, or sending a notification to the maintenance department once an asset is marked as broken, are only a few examples of potential use cases.
Locating assets which require maintenance within the allocated time window, can be time consuming and result in non-compliance. The ability to integrate existing Computerized Maintenance Management Systems with our Real-time Location System solution allows for pro-active notifications of maintenance due dates, along with utilization insights based on movement patterns and real-time locations, thus, dramatically reducing search time and increasing (legal) compliance.
Efficient stock level management is an art. Departments that hoard assets, asset scarcity in other locations, and lost assets can frustrate this effort. Being notified when the number of assets in storage locations drops below or rises above a configurable threshold, contributes to more efficient use, fewer phone calls, and enhanced staff satisfaction.
To promote sustainable behavior in the sharing of assets across departments, and to facilitate fair cost allocation, transparency regarding the time a particular asset was in use in each department, provides valuable decision-making information. Moving from estimates to actual insights makes the difference.
Assets leaving the hospital accidentally or through theft imply serious financial and operational burdens. Through the geofencing capabilities of PerformanceFlow, security can receive real-time notifications to prevent such situations.
In the event of an outbreak of infectious diseases, tracing of assets and patients becomes high priority. The ability to trace back locations and contact points is vital in such a situation and minimizes further spread. Monitoring environmental data such as temperature and humidity using intelligent sensors ensures that vaccines and laboratory samples are safely transported and stored.
Hospital staff would often agree that workflows are not optimal. Finding the root cause and quantifying their impressions can be challenging. Thanks to a real-time location system and consultancy support provided by former healthcare professionals and process experts on our Healthcare Transformation Services team, hospitals gain insights into their processes and can jointly define optimal workflows to drive continuous improvements.
Assets are increasingly becoming smart and connected. Gaining insights on all relevant data often requires accessing a host of scattered applications. The PerformanceFlow solution offers integration with a range of these medical Internet of Things, IoT devices leveraging their smartness and providing a single, vendor-agnostic source with all the information you need to achieve operational excellence. For this purpose, Philips has created a catalog of device drivers, which to-date already includes hundreds of devices.
Either enjoy a virtual expedition through our dashboards, join a personal tour at our Hospital Lab in Eindhoven, The Netherlands or experience the solution in a real customer environment!
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1 PerformanceFlow is available in selected markets. Please contact us for more information. 2 Horblyuk R. et al. (2012). Out of Control – How clinical asset proliferation and low utilization are draining healthcare budgets. 3 Oh J. (2017). Case Study: Implementing RTLS at Texoma Medical Center. 4 SwipeSense (2018). A Solution for Inefficient Asset Utilization in Hospitals. 5 Renzi C. (2005). Burnout and job satisfaction comparing healthcare staff of a dermatological hospital and a general hospital.
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