St Trudo Hospital tracks patients and devices with WiFi system
2 December 2009
St. Trudo Hospital in Belgium is tracking the location of
patients and Wi-Fi devices using the AeroScout Healthcare Visibility
solution.
St. Trudo was already using AeroScout’s Wi-Fi RFID tag system to
improve the management of critical medical equipment and to wirelessly
monitor temperature in key areas of the hospital.
Recently, the hospital added the ability to immediately locate
ambulatory patients and Wi-Fi devices. Patients are tracked either by
having AeroScout Tags or by wearing Dräger Wi-Fi telemetry monitors.
Since the system tracks Wi-Fi devices without needing tags or
additional software of any kind, all patients wearing Dräger’s monitors
can be located. This allows patients to walk around the hospital while
still being monitored and tracked. Since Wi-Fi is prevalent in the
hospital, using a Cisco unified wireless network, patients are able to
leave their unit and even their floor while still being visible to
nurses and staff. This not only increases patient safety, but also
patient and nurse satisfaction.
“Every project we execute and every technology we implement is done
with the goal of improving patient care and operational efficiency,”
said Daniel Loos, Manager, Information Technology, at Regional Hospital
St. Trudo. “AeroScout’s solution has proven to be a very effective way
for us to manage and better utilize our medical equipment. We’re now
leveraging the investments in our AeroScout solution, Dräger patient
monitors and Wi-Fi network to further enhance patient safety and
comfort.”
Regional Hospital St. Trudo serves the Limburg and Vlaams-Brabant
regions of Belgium. The hospital originally installed AeroScout’s
Healthcare Visibility solution, including Wi-Fi Tags and MobileView
software, in 2008 to track and manage expensive specialty mattresses, IV
pumps, supply carts and wheelchairs that are required throughout the
facility, as well as to accurately monitor the temperature inside the
hospital’s data center.
A key feature is the ability to provide real-time location
information for any Wi-Fi device connected to the network, such as
computers-on-wheels or Dräger Infinity M300 patient-worn monitors,
without the need for additional tags or software installations.
The Dräger Infinity M300 is a compact, wearable, wireless patient
monitor that uses the Wi-Fi network to transmit patients’ vital signs
telemetry to computers at nurse stations in the ICU and Cardiology ward
of St. Trudo Hospital. Working with Dräger and AeroScout, St. Trudo is
able to use its existing AeroScout solution to track the location of
patients wearing an Infinity M300. This gives patients more mobility and
enables the nursing staff to use MobileView to locate ambulatory
patients in need of immediate attention.
“As a former hospital nurse, I am well aware of the implications and
stress that can result when clinicians can’t easily locate equipment and
patients,” said Wim Verduyn, Director, EMEA Healthcare, at AeroScout.
“When an emergency occurs, it’s important to be able to locate patients
and critical equipment quickly. AeroScout is proud to work with St.
Trudo and Dräger to help improve care and safety at the hospital.”