New wireless technology at Southwestern Vermont Health Care is helping control costs by tracking medical equipment, such as a bladder scanner, and monitoring store temperatures for food, drug, and blood products. The health system installed the technology in June and now automatically tracks ten different pieces of medical equipment and the temperatures of more than seventy refrigerators, blanket warmers, and freezers throughout the health system.
‘To ensure the safety of the refrigerated products we stock for patients, including food, drugs, and blood, we have to maintain a daily log of temperatures,’ explained Karen Bond, director of laboratory services. ‘We must be able to produce this log when state or federal regulators ask for it. It is part of ensuring that we have safe products for our patients. The challenge is that the daily log may not be enough to prevent spoilage if something goes wrong.’
Bond explained that several years ago a problem with a refrigerator in the lab’s blood bank went unnoticed for more than eight hours. The refrigerator stopped functioning late at night. By the time technicians discovered the problem the following morning, more than $20,000 in blood had spoiled.
‘The loss of $20,000 in blood products only tells part of the story,’ explained Carol Conroy, vice president of operations and chief nursing officer. ‘We are fortunate that it did not create any patient care issues, as no one needed an emergency transfusion that night.’
The health system invested about $60,000 in the Aeroscout system, which tags equipment with radio frequency identification (RFID) devices. The RFID tags come in several varieties, including temperature monitoring and location detection, as well as many others.
‘RFID tags are becoming common not only in health care settings, but also in heavy industry, such as mining and oil and gas refining, and in manufacturing, such as the semiconductor industry,’ explained Charles Still, the senior systems analyst who oversaw the project’s launch at SVHC. In these settings, Still explained, the tags’ uses are similar and include tracking processes and equipment and even monitoring the location and safety of personnel.
‘At SVHC, the Aeroscout system works with our existing wireless network,’ Still added. ‘A simple web-based interface accessed through our Intranet allows managers to track the locations and monitor the condition of equipment in the system.’
The system automatically monitors and logs temperatures of equipment, such as laboratory refrigerators, and allows managers, staff, and state or federal regulators to view a temperature report for any time period. More importantly, the system allows operators to set temperature parameters. When a refrigerator’s temperature falls outside the parameters, the system automatically alerts the health system’s engineering department, which has people available around the clock. Engineering staff can quickly investigate a problem and find a solution before refrigerated stock can spoil.
‘RFID technology allows our staff to spend more time with patients instead of logging temperatures,’ Conroy explained. ‘It also makes sure that we can catch a problem before it jeopardizes patient care.’
A second benefit is that the system cuts the amount of time that employees spend looking for equipment, such as bladder scanners, portable ultrasound devices, or specialized equipment for transporting patients. It also means that the health system can purchase fewer devices.
‘If we can easily find and track our bladder scanners, we don’t necessarily need to have one in every department where it might be used,’ Conroy explained. ‘Since a bladder scanner costs $15,000 to $30,000, we can achieve significant savings.’
At present, the system tracks equipment in the laboratory, pharmacy, food service, operating room, and off-site medical practices. Plans for 2014 include investing an additional $100,000 to expand the tracking system to include additional equipment in these areas as well as in the Centers for Living and Rehabilitation, engineering, and pharmacy.
About SVHC
Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC) is an integrated health system serving Bennington and Windham Counties in Vermont and nearby communities in New York and Massachusetts. SVHC consists of Southwestern Vermont Medical Center, the Centers for Living and Rehabilitation, the VNA & Hospice of SVHC, the SVHC Foundation, and the SVMC Northshire and Deerfield Valley campuses. It also includes Dartmouth-Hitchcock Putnam Physicians, a multispecialty medical group operated in partnership with Dartmouth-Hitchcock.
Innovative technology helps SVHC track equipment, monitor temperature
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