The integration of RTLS and AI in healthcare has opened up new insights and solutions, fundamentally transforming the way healthcare is delivered. But new technology and processes also often require new people. Modern healthcare facilities are now benefiting from a single, dedicated professional who is responsible for bridging the world of IT and clinical care.
As a Chief Nursing Informatics Officer (CNIO), you play a vital role in implementing technologies like AI-infused Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS). Leveraging the data collected from these systems allows you to make evidence-based decisions, enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of healthcare practices. With the support of Kontakt.io, you can utilize AI to manage big data and uncover patterns in real-time, enabling better, faster decisions for a more efficient and streamlined healthcare system.
The Power of AI-Infused RTLS Systems
RTLS systems use asset-tracking tags, sensors, and gateways that communicate and transmit data to a cloud-based platform for ease of use from any mobile device. Traditional RTLS has valuable applications in tracking the movement of assets, but when combined with AI, the capabilities increase dramatically. Incorporating machine learning to enhance RTLS in healthcare improves location accuracy and data collection.
Every RTLS vendor has access to big data. We know everything: where your assets are, what condition they’re in, how often they’re used, etc. And that big data is collected across the entire health system. But the problem is that RTLS vendors don’t do anything with that data. That’s where Kontakt.io is different.
At Kontakt.io, we are stakeholders in that big data. Our AI integration not only captures all of that data but manages and analyzes it to offer insights, predictions, and recommendations to optimize every aspect of clinical care in your facility. With our solutions, you can understand the patient care flow at the full hospital level perspective, in real-time, with actionable recommendations and automated workflows that save money, increase productivity, and deliver better patient outcomes.
Evidence-Based Decision-Making
An evidence-based approach to decision-making allows you, as the CNIO, to make the case for new implementations. The benefits of evidence-based decision-making provided by Kontakt.io’s healthcare platform include:
- Enhanced Workflow Optimization: By analyzing the movement and utilization of medical equipment and personnel, healthcare facilities can streamline processes, reduce bottlenecks, and improve overall efficiency.
- Improved Resource Allocation: AI can identify patterns in asset usage, ensuring that critical equipment is available where and when it is needed most, reducing downtime, and increasing productivity.
- Increased Nurse Safety: Kontakt.io’s staff safety solution delivers the real-time location of smart badge wearers and can identify potentially hazardous situations, powering rapid interventions and providing a safe working environment for nurses and staff.
- Better Patient Care: Real-time data analysis on staff, patients, and equipment allows nurses to spend more time at the bedside, reduces wait times, and enhances the overall patient experience.
- Reduced Operational Costs: By optimizing asset usage and reducing wastage, healthcare facilities can lower operational costs, allowing them to allocate more resources to patient care and other critical areas. The average, 200-bed hospital in the USA can save up to $5M with RTLS asset tracking alone.
- Compliance and Accountability: Kontakt.io’s real-time tracking ensures that assets are used in compliance with regulations and protocols, and it provides a clear audit trail for accountability and quality assurance purposes.
- Preventive Maintenance: By monitoring the usage and condition of assets, the system can predict when maintenance is needed, preventing equipment failure and ensuring continuous availability of essential tools.
- Emergency Response: In the event of an emergency, the Kontakt.io platform quickly locates critical assets and personnel within one system, ensuring a swift and effective response.
- Employee Morale and Retention: A safer and more efficient working environment can help improve employee satisfaction and retention, reducing turnover and associated costs.
Enhancing Healthcare Efficiency
AI and RTLS contribute to streamlining healthcare operations in many ways:
- Clinicians can update Electronic Health Records (EHRs) in real time, providing “live” patient data.
- Data analytics can find patterns in asset usage to improve operational efficiency by reducing waste and streamlining resource management.
- Analyzing data for patterns and insights can also identify areas of friction to reduce patient wait times and predict staffing needs.
Hospitals with an AI-driven real-time location system deliver a higher level of care with fewer delays, providing better outcomes and ensuring satisfaction. These modern hospitals can manage a vast array of assets with ease, ensuring that medical equipment is available, clean, and ready for use so nurses can find the equipment they need when they need it.
Along with all of these advantages, deploying AI-infused RTLS solutions frees nurses from searching for supplies or performing manual, administrative tasks. Plus, RTLS addresses many common safety concerns to provide staff with a secure working environment. With these technologies, nurses can direct their attention to their patients. This improves patient satisfaction and outcomes while boosting nurses’ job satisfaction and fending off burnout.
As AI becomes even more prevalent in healthcare, it’s important to recognize the crucial role of CNIOs in leveraging AI with RTLS solutions for evidence-based decision-making. You act as a bridge between the nursing staff and the IT department. You ensure everyone has a voice and together you can find the best solutions to overcome your facility’s challenges. Kontakt.io empowers and supports CNIOs by providing AI and RTLS solutions that transform healthcare practices.
Learn more about Kontakt.io’s solutions and the single platform system to help deliver better outcomes for your healthcare organization. Schedule a call today.