Back

January 4, 2023 | 6 minute

Bringing efficiency, transparency to staff workflow with location tracking

scroll to top

An efficient healthcare system is one that operates smoothly and quickly, delivering quality care to patients on time, every time. Location tracking has become an important tool for managers and other stakeholders in this mission and its role continues to expand. No other tool has proven as valuable in gaining insights into how a healthcare system is functioning, where resources are allocated, and how to best optimize patient care.

Location tracking in healthcare systems works by using IoT-powered infrastructures to track patient, staff and asset locations. The data collected from these devices can then be used to determine which services patients are receiving, where they are located, how long they have been in that location and more.

This information can also be used to provide better patient care, optimize costs and streamline processes by helping healthcare providers keep track of their patients’ progress over time.

At a time when many healthcare facilities are being forced to find ways to do more with less, gaining insights into wait times, reaction times, bottlenecks and workflows is more important than ever.

The benefits of real-time visibility

The benefits of implementing location tracking in a healthcare setting are based on the visibility they provide into patient flow. This helps hospital staff understand how different departments interact with one another and how long it takes for patients to move through each section of the hospital. For example, if a particular department is experiencing delays due to understaffing or other issues, then administrators can quickly identify and address the problem.

Another benefit of location tracking is that it helps improve communication between different parts of a hospital or healthcare organization. By knowing exactly where everyone is at all times, hospital staff can easily coordinate patient transfers or other tasks without having to manually search for someone’s whereabouts. Furthermore, by having an up-to-date view of who’s located where at any given moment, hospitals can ensure that they have enough personnel on hand to provide optimal care during an emergency situation.

Imagine the streamlining that comes with being able to post the following information, live and updated constantly, on monitors located at nurse stations or command centers on a map of all exam rooms, waiting rooms, labs and other areas:

  • Marking of patient location along with time in that location
  • Staff name/type with patient
  • Color coded indicators for each area on the map that change automatically as patients and staff members move around the facility:
    • Available, Ready to Use
    • Occupied with Patient Alone
    • Occupied with Patient and Provider
    • Needs Turnover
    • In Service (EVS team member processing the room)

One of the most obvious benefits of location tracking in healthcare systems is improved efficiency. By knowing exactly where their patients are located at all times, healthcare providers can quickly respond to any changes in their condition or any other medical needs they may have. Additionally, location tracking can help streamline operations within a healthcare system by allowing providers to quickly locate personnel who may need assistance with certain tasks or procedures.

Better, smarter use of resources

Location tracking provides real-time data about the status of resources within a healthcare system. This data can then be used to make informed decisions about resource management and allocation. For example, a manager can use location tracking to see which medical staff are available at any given time and where those staff members are located within the hospital or clinic. This information can then be used to better manage the scheduling of medical staff and ensure that there are always enough personnel on hand when needed.

The ways in which location data can applied include the most essential metrics of any healthcare facility:

  • Staff Efficiency:
    • Average time spent in patient rooms by time of day & role
    • Frequency of patient visits by time of day role
    • Average time spent on non-patient care related activities
      • Sorting supplies
      • Searching for equipment
      • Collecting lab work
      • Other
    • Average time spent on shift handoffs & case discussions between shifts
  • Patient Workflow/Efficiency:
    • Total Patient Visit Time (total time in clinic)
    • Time from Check-in to Seeing provider
    • Time from exam room entry to first staff interaction
    • Time from check-in to scheduled appointment
    • Patient Wait Times
      • In exam room
      • In waiting area
    • Staff & Patient interaction times
    • number of staff interactions per unique encounters
    • number of staff interactions per location
  • Space Utilization:
    • Total and Room level Occupancy (Time, %, Unique patient Interactions)
    • Total and Room level Utilization (Time, %, Unique patient Interactions)
    • Occupancy and Utilization of available open clinic hours (Time, %, Unique patient Interactions)

Location tracking also helps hospitals identify trends in patient movement throughout their facilities. For example, if a hospital notices that many patients are constantly moving from one department to another, they can use this information to identify areas of improvement or opportunities for streamlining processes. Ultimately, this leads to improved patient satisfaction and better overall outcomes for everyone involved in the system.

Another benefit of location tracking is that it allows hospitals to track the progress of their patients through each stage of treatment. This allows them to see which treatments are most effective or if any processes need to be changed or improved upon in order to deliver higher quality care more efficiently. This type of data is invaluable when it comes to improving efficiency within a healthcare system and ensuring that high-quality care is provided consistently across all departments and locations.

Location tracking benefits everyone

While the insights provided by location tracking can be applied facility-wide, the data gained also benefits the health care workers that move in those spaces. It makes it possible for them to do more with less and that time savings can be applied to patient care instead of searching for equipment or waiting for a room to become free.

With proper implementation and management of this technology, you can ensure that your organization continues to offer high quality care while reducing costs at the same time!

Location tracking has numerous benefits for healthcare systems—from helping with resource allocation and scheduling issues, to providing insights into patient movements throughout the facility—allowing managers to take corrective action faster than ever before while still meeting quality standards.

While implementing such a system may seem daunting at first glance, its potential benefits far outweigh any initial costs or complexities associated with setting up such a system in your organization’s environment. Managers who embrace location tracking technologies will find themselves better equipped than ever before when it comes managing their healthcare teams effectively and efficiently while providing high-quality patient care simultaneously.

At Kontakt.io, our human-centric approach to leveraging the applications of IoT into easier lives for healthcare workers. We started with helping nurses to do more with less via our IV Pump and asset tracking use cases and now we have moved on to a new generation of Smart Healthcare where the majority of time spent by the nurses is oriented towards direct patient care.

Our solutions are easy to deploy and scalable, based on open source technologies leveraging existing hospital network infrastructure. Getting started is easier than you think. Just speak with our Sales team today and see what you have to gain from location tracking in your facility.