Clinical process tracking system for operating rooms developed by Karl Storz and Ekahau

25 January 2012

Ekahau, a developer of Wi-Fi-based real-time location systems (RTLS), and endoscopy specialists Karl Storz, have announced a joint solution for operating room (OR) management based on tracking patients and equipment using WiFi tags.

The MIC Clinic in Berlin has successfully deployed and is using the combined solution of Karl Storz ORchestrion and Ekahau RTLS for automatic real-time management of clinical processes around their operating room.

The ORchestrion Steering and Localization Module (SLM) is a software solution developed by Karl Storz that enables the monitoring and control of all surgical treatment processes in the OR. The solution has been enhanced with the Ekahau RTLS system giving hospital staff an automated overview of the surgical procedure flow.

Unpredictable events, such as emergency cases, are seamlessly integrated into the existing resource planning without compromising the current work flow. The combined solution and the related optimization of operations planning and execution bring significant cost savings to the daily work-flow in the OR. The solution can be easily integrated into existing hospital information systems and wireless networks and does not require the deployment of any new infrastructure.

At the MIC Clinic in Berlin, the operating room staff use the ORchestrion SLM for daily patient sequence control. With the help of Ekahau’s latest generation Wi-Fi tags, the solution meets all the challenges that arise in monitoring various resources and in coordinating their application in the operating theatre.

Since communications are handled over the existing Wi-Fi network, time-consuming phone calls between the individual service facilities are redundant. With mobile task management, physicians and nursing staff receive automated text messages on their portable devices telling them where the patients are during the entire OR process.

The patients are tracked using the Ekahau T301W Wearable Wi-Fi tags. In addition to optimizing OR utilization, the automation of the OR surgery schedule also benefits the patients by enabling shorter wait times because of a more systematic process flow.

“With SLM, the processes around the OR are controlled by means of a highly automated task transmission capability to mobile terminals (mobile task management). In case deviations occur in the schedule, SLM helps adapt the process flow in a way that overall OR utilization is still optimized despite these unexpected delays,” says Stefanie Klutznik, Nursing Services Manager for Outpatient and Ambulatory Services of the MIC Clinic.

“I’m constantly amazed at the resourceful applications our partner companies are creating with our RTLS solutions” said Dirk Lenz, Regional Director Central and Eastern Europe, at Ekahau. “Karl Storz and the MIC Clinic worked with us to find a great solution to a real pain point at MIC, that not only optimizes work-flow and resource utilization but drives patient satisfaction”.

Ekahau RTLS is a software-based Real Time Location System, which tracks the location and status or assets and people using a hospital’s existing Wi-Fi network. Ekahau RTLS does not require any proprietary infrastructure to be installed yet provides unparalleled performance when compared to similar proprietary approaches.

 

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