A patient is ready to move from one department to another, but no one can find a wheelchair. Nurses stop what they’re doing to search for it. The patient waits. Sounds familiar? This kind of disruption and delay, repeated day after day, drains time and affects care.

While other systems are digitizing, equipment like wheelchairs is often still tracked with outdated methods—or not tracked at all. But with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology, there’s a simple, scalable way to fix this.

At Kontakt.io, we help hospitals streamline their operations by using BLE for real-time location services (RTLS). This article will show you how BLE tracking can help with common issues with wheelchair management, saving time, reducing costs, and improving patient care.

The Cost of Losing Track

Wheelchairs are essential for patient flow in hospitals. Yet many medical facilities struggle with knowing where their equipment is at any given time and this causes a number of issues:

1. Delays in care: When wheelchairs aren’t available, patient transfers slow down, which impacts scheduling for treatments and surgeries.
2. Increased staff workload: Nurses and other staff waste their valuable time searching for equipment, taking focus off patient care.
3. Patient frustration: Another delay in the end-to-end patience experience. A wheelchair is a basic need, and its unavailability damages the hospital’s reputation
4. Lost or stolen equipment: Think of how many items are lost or stolen at your hospital each year. This adds to an already limited budget by causing needless replacement costs.

How Bluetooth (BLE) Solves the Problem

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) tracking technology provides an efficient way to manage wheelchair inventory in real-time. Here’s how it works: BLE tags are attached to wheelchairs. These tags communicate with BLE gateways positioned around the hospital, sending real time positioning to a single, all-in-one platform that staff can access through their smart phones or computer stations at any moment.

What can BLE do for your hospital?

1. Real-time tracking in your pocket

BLE shows the location of each wheelchair on a single dashboard a single dashboard available on staff smartphones. Anyone may easily find the location of the closest one. It’s a quick fix for a common issue that works in real time.

2. Control over inventory

We all know how critical PAR levels are in inventory management. Hospitals can always keep an eye on the number of wheelchairs in each department thanks to BLE tracking. Employees can even redistribute equipment proactively, before a shortage happens, if one location or department runs low.

3. Smoother patient flow

Patient transfers are faster when wheelchairs are available right away — simple as that. This makes the patient experience seamless and avoids bottlenecks. When resources are easily accessible, managing timely care becomes much easier.

4. Reduced equipment loss

With a BLE-supported system, hospitals can set up alarms in the event that a wheelchair leaves the building or enters an area that is not authorized because tags constantly communicate their locations. By reducing theft and loss, this helps the hospital save a lot of money on replacements.

The Power of Data

Wheelchair location is just one use for the data produced by BLE+RTLS tracking. It also provides information on how equipment is used, empowering, hospitals to decide how best to allocate their resources in the most efficient way.

For instance, wheelchairs could be redistributed in real time after just a glance at the dashboard that shows most wheelchairs are collected in a single department.

Why BLE is the Right Fit for Hospitals

Bluetooth is already part of hospital life. It’s used for staff communication and in many medical devices. Now, the same tech can solve a bigger problem: finding lost or misplaced equipment.

With BLE, you get a system that’s easy to set up and scales with your needs. It works with your current setup. You won’t need a lot of extra hardware. And the best part? It gives you real-time info, so you can find what you need fast. This helps patient care and keeps things running smoothly.

We help hospitals, both large and small, use BLE tracking to streamline operations and track assets efficiently. Our system makes it easier to keep track of wheelchairs, IV pumps, medical devices, and even staff.

Is It Time for a Change?

Hospitals are always trying to get better—running smoother, cutting costs, and improving care. BLE tracking helps you do all of that, without much hassle. At Kontakt.io, we’re here to help you deploy BLE asset tracking across your facility in weeks or even days, not months. Installation is fast and easy, and you will see the impact and benefits almost immediately. 

Reach out here and we’ll get right back to you!