With hospitals now limiting family member access to hospitals, it has become more important to use technology to keep family members updated on patient progress. It is a winning combination when the same technology can also improve operations and patient care.
Tracking how much time patients spent in each area of the surgery department was a manual and time-consuming process for SunnyBrook Health Sciences Center. Yet the information was important for utilization reporting, staffing models, scheduling and patient flow…all critical elements for improving patient experience. In critical situations when every second counted, manual processes made fast decisions nearly impossible.
Family members needing updates on patient progress would contact caregivers, taking up valuable patient care time.
The OR Information Management Services (ORIMS) team imagined a RFID system that would automate patient progress through each stage of surgery in SunnyBrook’s 19 operating rooms. It would automatically track the patient from reception, to registration, to pre-op preparation, to the operating room, to post-operative recovery and into the surgical short-stay unit. It would securely and automatically update family members on the patient’s progress.
With automation, caregivers would be able to give the responsive care that patients need. Surgeons and administrators could view real-time workflow summaries and utilization data to help forecast and identify bottlenecks and resource needs. Families would have real-time status information for their loved one.
To make the dream a reality, the ORIMS team began to research potential vendors. They reached out to RFID Canada and FEIG ELECTRONICS to evaluate the hospital’s needs, recommend solutions, determine strategy and test system configurations. ORIMS, RFID Canada and FEIG Electronics comprised the primary project team.
The team first considered using wristbands for the RFID tags, but rejected the idea first because of cost, but also because the patient’s arm position could keep the readers from picking up a signal when the gurney passed a checkpoint.
After more consideration, the tags were affixed to the binder containing the patient’s chart. The binder was a perfect choice because it was always with the patient. The team tested various locations for the tags and found that attaching them to the front and back of the binder was important in case the attendant held the binder under an arm.
With the tag location determined, antennas were the next consideration. At each entry door and checkpoint in the surgical unit, the team installed three antennas. During pilot testing, they adjusted antenna position frequently. Some antennas worked best vertically, others horizontally, and still others read best when affixed to the ceiling. They installed barriers to prevent staff from running into wall-mounted readers.
After significant trial and error, the RFID system reliably collected real-time data as each tag passed an antenna and transmitted the data to a reader.
The next step was to create a system so family members could follow the patient’s progress. ORIMS created a custom software program to track patients and report utilization data. The team installed monitors in the waiting area that displayed a unique identification number for each patient instead of a name to protect privacy. Family members could follow the patient’s progress without staff involvement.
During the four-month project, the ORIMS worked with nurses to analyze their workflow process and make sure the system met their needs. They surveyed family members to determine what they most wanted to know when a loved one was in surgery. Family member input led to the development of a “Find My Patient” app that became available from a screen or kiosk.
The project was resoundingly successful.
For additional details and equipment descriptions, read the full case study.
Session expired
Please log in again. The login page will open in a new tab. After logging in you can close it and return to this page.
[…] A healthcare facility with 19 operating rooms used RFID to automate patient tracking from reception to the operating room and into the surgical short-stay unit for recovery. In this fast-paced operating room environment, the legacy manual processes just weren’t fast enough for maximum efficiency. […]