Hospitals leverage the temperature-sensing features of the system to wirelessly monitor refrigerators and freezers containing medications, blood and tissue samples, as well as other medical devices that warrant continuous temperature monitoring.  The small cube-like temperature sensor tags are placed inside cooling or warming units without the need for a fragile external probe or connected wire. Real-time temperature data is continuously transmitted through the sensor network and reported via any web-based computer connected to the hospital’s intranet.

The RadarFind temperature tracking module provides a flashing visual alert and sends messages via email or pager when temperatures fall above or below pre-set parameters.

“We are committed to harnessing the full power of our sensor-network based RTLS to monitor environmental conditions and the contextual status of various items, including temperature,” said Steve Jackson, chief technology officer for RadarFind. “Now we offer hospitals and other health-care facilities another level of security by ensuring that the network reliably reports the temperature of critical medications and tissues even in the event that they come into contact with water or dust.”

In addition to locating medical devices and patients, hospitals can use RTLS as an essential tool to enhance patient safety, control costs and comply with accreditation regulations. The temperature sensing module enables hospitals to automatically document and keep digital historical logs in order to meet regulatory standards for maintaining consistent temperatures inside refrigerators and freezers.

RadarFind’s temperature tracking is proven to be in compliance with International Protection code 65 (IP65), meaning that testing has confirmed it is dust and waterproof. In addition, the module delivers readings that are traceable to reference standards developed and maintained by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), verifying that the results are accurate according to established and replicable processes.

The module also provides a flashing visual alert and sends messages via email or pager when temperatures fall above or below pre-set parameters. This integrated alarm mechanism safeguards vaccines or other temperature-sensitive medications and tissue samples when cooling equipment fails to perform adequately. Waterproof certification further ensures that the sensors continue to report accurate data when placed in therapeutic baths or if they come into direct contact with liquid substances within a refrigerator.

In addition to being waterproof and dust proof, the sensor offers high accuracy, an extensive temperature-measurement range (-40^oC to +70 ^oC), and extremely low power consumption.

The RadarFind RTLS patented technology encompasses an array of intelligent sensors to achieve room-level accuracy. The system operates wirelessly via a radio frequency ideally suited for accurately tracking assets and people without compromising a hospital’s WiFi network. The sensor network can be installed while patients are in the room and can easily scale to accommodate thousands of location tags and temperature modules across multiple hospital facilities. RadarFind also communicates information on a tagged item’s status to show whether it is in-use, available or needs cleaning. Future contextual status indicators will include reporting additional environmental conditions, such as humidity and barometric pressure.

Barbara Christe and her research team from IUPUI interview an SRMC nurse using RadarFind.

At SRMC, Christe and her team interviewed hospital administrators and staff about the benefits of using the RadarFind RTLS throughout the hospital. They discovered a range of improvements including:

• Improved quality of patient care (dramatically less time searching/more nursing time spent with patients)
• Significantly reduced stress levels and workload on clinical staff and BMETs
• Potential process improvements in multiple departments, including central sterile and infection control
• Preventative maintenance completion rates close to 100% on tagged equipment
• Innovative service contract negotiations, leveraging asset tracking

Central to the results realized at SRMC are RadarFind’s three-position status tags that capture historical data on the entire clinical equipment duty cycle of clean/available, in-use with patient, and dirty/needs cleaning. This data can be used to leverage service contracts, and augment infection control processes to further improve patient safety.

Impressed by what they found, Christe and her team intend to publish their full findings in a peer-reviewed journal in the near future.

Mary Schilder, WakeMed Health & Hospitals

When WakeMed Cary decided to implement RadarFind RTLS, they knew they needed a plan for applying the new tools. “You really have to have a good business case up front to meet the business needs and priorities,” said Mary Schilder, director of information systems consulting for WakeMed Health & Hospitals.

Initially, WakeMed Cary started tracking only infusion pumps in order to get a feel for the system. “Once you put in the readers and data collectors, the system can track anything you want, but you have to be able to use the data to make business decisions,” Schilder explained.

RadarFind RTLS provides a significant business intelligence tool with the unique three-position status switch on the RadarFind RTLS tags. “RadarFind will contribute to improved patient care by…creating a better method for equipment utilization,” said Schilder. By showing if a device is clean, in-use or needs cleaning, nurses don’t waste time tracking down unavailable equipment and administrators obtain important utilization data which leads to better inventory and purchasing decisions.

Schilder visited Wayne Memorial Hospital in Goldsboro, NC and discovered how they saved $300,000+ and experienced operational efficiency improvements with RadarFind. “We found that the technology was quickly integrated into the hospital workflow process,” commented Schilder. She anticipates similar benefits for WakeMed Cary. “The system will…help us meet Joint Commission standards by creating an easy way to track items needing preventive maintenance so they can be removed from the units.”

In the future, WakeMed Cary expects to expand on their success with the RadarFind technology by implementing a patient tracking system which runs on the same platform as the asset tracking system. According to Schilder, “[The RadarFind technology] could be extremely beneficial to the continued improvement of patient care and patient safety at WakeMed Cary.”

Mary Washington Hospital has selected the RadarFind RTLS for tracking the location and status of its mobile medical equipment, thereby managing costs to save money on equipment purchases, improve patient care and enhance the efficiency of hospital operations.

RTLS Selection Driven by Ease of Installation, Scalability, Low Upfront Costs

The hospital, part of Fredericksburg, Va.’s MediCorp Health System, chose the RadarFind system for its flexible deployment, ability to provide precise room-level location, innovative status tags and scalability for asset and patient tracking. Unlike other RTLS solutions, RadarFind is deployed enterprise-wide, rather than in one department such as an emergency room. In addition, RadarFind’s low installation costs and its ability to operate without interfering with WiFi or other existing hospital networks were key factors in the decision.

“The RadarFind system is setting the standard for real time locating in hospitals, with non-disruptive installation, proven return-on-investment, scalability, detailed data and reports and superior customer service,” said Andy Holden, director of biomedical services for Mary Washington Hospital. “The RadarFind system will have a significant impact on Mary Washington Hospital’s mission to improve the health status of all people within our community. The data gathered by the system will be leveraged in a number of ways to help improve our hospital’s services.”

Holden is also co-chairman for the Environment of Care Council at Mary Washington and is looking forward to using the RadarFind system to track telemetry devices that wirelessly monitor vital signs. Hospitals lose track of a significant number of these small devices each year, which can translate into lost funds.  Mary Washington Hospital will use the RadarFind asset location system to stop those losses.

More information at RadarFind News

Managing Equipment with RFID and RTLS (Real Time Location Systems)
A comprehensive overview of the distinctions between active RFID and RTLS and how these technologies are emerging to significantly benefit clinical engineering processes.
Monday  Dec. 1, 1:00PM – 4:30PM

Integration and Implementation is Not a One-Way Street
With Philip Knecht, Senior BMET, Southeastern Regional Medical Center, Lumberton, N.C.
Learn how Southeastern Regional Medical Center is utilizing a Real Time Location System (RTLS) to improve clinical efficiency and reduce costs by easily installing an asset tracking system, then integrating the real-time equipment location and status information with computerized maintenance management software.

Tuesday  Dec.  2, 1:30PM – 4:30PM

Dr. Carrasco is a former tenured professor of surgery at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine with 25+ years of health care experience, including working as an academic educator, research scientist, surgeon and hospital clinic administrator.  He has presented educational sessions for A.A.M.I., the Virginia Biomedical Association and the Society for Health Systems.

The North Carolina Technology Association (NCTA) has awarded RadarFind “Most Innovative Use of Technology”. This prestigious award was presented to Steve Jackson, CTO for RadarFind, during the 15th annual NCTA 21 Awards gala held November 13.

“This achievement honors the extensive hospital research and technology differentiators that set the RadarFind RTLS apart and our company is proud to receive this very special recognition,” said Terry Kane, M.D., CEO for RadarFind. “As RadarFind continues to work with hospitals across the nation, we appreciate the support of organizations like NCTA in fostering business and leadership excellence.”

NCTA is the premier statewide leadership organization that represents North Carolina’s technology industry.

“The 2008 NCTA 21 awards was by far our most competitive with an outstanding list of finalists and a group of award recipients who distinguished themselves through outstanding achievement and superior performance,” said Brooks Raiford, president and chief executive officer of NCTA. “I congratulate RadarFind Corporation for receiving an NCTA 21 award and for the passion to lead, innovate and create.”

RadarFind offers the only RTLS developed by medical professionals specifically for health care. By improving patient flow processes and resource management, the RadarFind RTLS favorably impacts patient care, efficiency and satisfaction while rapidly reducing costs.

RadarFind was first deployed at Wayne Memorial Hospital in Goldsboro, N.C. in 2006. Since then the company has signed contracts with other hospitals in North Carolina including WakeMed Health & Hospitals, The Women’s Hospital of Greensboro, Southeastern Regional Medical Center, Halifax Regional Medical Center, and additional hospitals in New Jersey and Virginia.

]]> http://www.radarfind.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=43 0 http://www.radarfind.com/blog/?p=39 http://www.radarfind.com/blog/?p=39#comments Tue, 21 Oct 2008 21:47:52 +0000 RadarFind http://www.radarfind.com/blog/?p=39 Wayne Memorial Hospital Operations VP Tom Bradshaw will present during the upcoming Active RFID, RTLS & Sensor Networks conference on November 5 in Dallas, Texas. During this international gathering, Tom will discuss Wayne Memorial’s experience working with the RadarFind system and how this hospital helped in providing valuable input toward designing an RTLS solution that other hospitals are now embracing. He will share how to determine a significant ROI and discuss real-world benefits from deploying an enterprise-wide RTLS.

Tom has spoken at other national conferences on the promise of RTLS technology in hospital settings, including RFID in Healthcare and the Premier Annual Breakthroughs Conference and Exhibition.

Wayne Memorial Hospital is a non-profit, community hospital located approximately 60 miles southeast of RadarFind’s headquarters in Morrisville, N.C. (near Raleigh) and is licensed for 316 beds.

Dr. Carrasco, Chief Medical Officer for RadarFind, is a former tenured professor of surgery at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine with 25+ years of health care experience, including working as an academic educator, research scientist, surgeon and hospital clinic administrator. He offers a unique hospital perspective from his deep involvement with developing innovative medical device and imaging technology, computerized planning tools, hospital software and IT infrastructure, and implementing new patient care delivery systems.  He has presented educational sessions at A.A.M.I. (Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation), the Virginia Biomedical Association annual conference and the Society for Health Systems annual conference.  

As an expert on sensor networks within the medical community, he was invited to participate in a panel discussion at the Sensor World conference in 2007.

The RFID study mentioned in JAMA does not apply to the RTLS technology deployed by RadarFind.

The recent study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association covered the likely scenario of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) readers causing anomalous behavior in electronic critical care equipment, when those devices were brought within close range of the RFID readers.  This can happen because of the high energy levels and the frequencies used by some RFID systems that can in fact interfere with medical equipment in hospital environments.

The RFID study mentioned in the JAMA report does not apply to the Real Time Location Systems (RTLS) technology deployed by RadarFind.

The RadarFind system elements use a tiny fraction of the power levels utilized in the JAMA study – so small that they cannot create enough interfering energy to make a nearby electronic device malfunction. The radio frequency where RadarFind’s system operates also does not interfere with electronic medical equipment.

The study reported by JAMA used high-powered, RFID readers within the 868 MHz frequency with passive RFID tags. For passive RFID systems (as mentioned previously), you need a very powerful reader to energize/read the tags. To compare this to the RadarFind system, the power level for RadarFind readers is about 20,000 times less than the readers that were used in the study. High-energy readers are not required with the RadarFind system since its tags have their own power source (a battery). We are not surprised that interference occurred at such a high power level with the passive RFID system observed in this study.

We are also not surprised that the low-powered active RFID tags operating in the 125 kHz frequency band caused interference with electronic medical devices as cited in the JAMA study. The RadarFind system operates in the 900 MHz frequency band where there is no interference with medical devices. Health care practitioners and RF system engineers designed the RadarFind system to work within a frequency (902 MHz to 928 MHz) specifically so that there would be no interference with hospital equipment.

Additional information regarding the differences between RFID and RTLS technology is available from RadarFind. Please feel free to contact us: info@radarfind.com for further clarification or if you have any other questions regarding this study.