Hey Reader,

When I ask healthcare leaders in surgery, "If you could track anything what would you track first", the answer is almost always the same: the patient. This consistency isn't surprising - patient location is the cornerstone of surgical operations. Outside of surgery it gets more complex because there are countless workflows and metrics across departments and only one patient. Tracking the patient has great value but only if you can get the information to the right people at the right time.

TLDR:

Patient location tracking isn't just about finding patients - it's about optimizing workflows, improving efficiency, and enhancing care delivery across all hospital departments. This data serves as the foundation for Care Traffic Control and workflow automation.

Key Concepts:

• ​Care Traffic Control: A systematic approach to managing mobile healthcare workflows based on location data
• Nominal Flow: The standard, expected movement of patients through the healthcare system
• ​Anomalies: Deviations from expected patient movement patterns
• ​Digital Twin: Virtual representation of healthcare operations that enables workflow optimization

Detailed Explanation:

1. Department-Specific Benefits:

Emergency Department:

• Door-to-Room Time tracking
• Admit-Decision-to-Depart Time monitoring
• Left-Without-Being-Seen prevention (anomaly)

Clinical Staff Needs:

• Patient wandering prevention
• Procedure coordination (nominal flow)
• Medication administration timing
• Care delivery optimization

Support Services:

• Environmental Services room turnover
• Food Services delivery timing
• Patient Transport coordination
• Bed Management efficiency

2. Real-Time Impact:

The power of patient location tracking comes alive in real-time scenarios. Consider a typical patient journey:

• ED admission, patient receives a BLE RTLS wristband
• Automatic calculation of key metrics
• Coordination of services and procedures
• Management of anomalies (like patient wandering)
• Predictive scheduling of resources
• Discharges with precise departure times

3. Strategic Implementation:

Building a successful patient tracking system requires:

• Understanding departmental needs and location/time-based metrics
• Focusing on data analysis before operational changes
• Implementing a Care Traffic Control strategy
• Developing toward a complete operational digital twin

Key Takeaways:

• Patient location is the trigger for numerous critical healthcare metrics
• Real-time location data enables both workflow optimization and anomaly management
• Success requires understanding first the nominal flow and handling deviations
• Implementation should start with data collection and build toward full automation

Conclusion:

Patient location tracking isn't just another healthcare technology - it's the foundation for optimizing operations across the entire organization. By understanding its impact on different departments and implementing it strategically, healthcare organizations can build toward a more efficient, automated future.

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Until next week,

Paul E Zieske ​Location Based Services Consulting ​​​