MGM Solutions: New RTLS Systems Track Hospital Assets
WOOLWICH TOWNSHIP, N.J., July 17, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Countless man-hours are wasted daily in hospitals around the country in trying to find equipment, patients and even staff. A recent study by Zebra Technologies(1) noted that the simple act of getting lost on the way to a patient's room or trying to track down a missing nurse can cost hours of lost productivity for staff. They also noted that there's a real lack of visibility in the current healthcare system. Michael Maurer, CEO of industry leader MGM Solutions, says that in the future, real-time location systems (RTLS) will be the industry standard in implementing effective tracking in healthcare settings. He asserts that effective tracking of equipment, staff and patients throughout hospitals will bring more order to the hospital scene and possibly save hospitals millions of dollars in lost equipment and staff time.(2)
A study conducted by Gartner estimates that 10-20% of a hospital's inventory is misplaced or goes missing every year. Furthermore, staff can spend as much as 21 minutes looking for misplaced equipment. The study further estimated that between $4,000-$5,000 worth of equipment goes missing per bed. This means that if a hospital houses 300 beds, a whopping $1,500,000 worth of equipment has vanished without any hope of it ever being found. For most hospitals, that's $1.5 million that they really can't spare.(3)
In an effort to curtail potential losses and increase visibility, hospitals are adopting real-time location systems (RTLS) and mobile computing to automatically track the real-time geographic location of everything from equipment, supplies and pharmaceuticals to patients and staff. And when it comes to the staff members themselves, there are also plenty of advantages to having man-hours be fully visible to managers or operations teams, particularly during times when assets might be scattered more than usual, such as during an emergency or directly after a hospital relocation.(4)
Of course, it's vital that the tracking system be highly accurate and dependable in different circumstances, as failure in a hospital setting can be crucial or even life-threatening. So, it isn't just a matter of finding that missing x-ray machine. Per Maurer, it's clear that healthcare administrators see value in tracking property and people for purposes of improved safety and management efficiencies at their facilities.
"The low end of the risk scale would include losing tracked low-cost equipment such as wheelchairs, but much more significantly, the higher end of the scale includes applications such as patient monitoring and staff duress alerts that protect human life," he said.
At a time of continuous technological advancement, Maurer contends that improving patient care with the speed and accuracy of a reliable real-time locating system will make all the difference for safer and more efficient healthcare environments. The MGM SecurTRAK system uses patented triangulation and intelligent boundary recognition software, running on top of a tightly integrated blend of radio frequency (RF), diffused infrared (IR), and low-frequency RF, to accurately track tags.
One of the nation's largest VA centers, the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System, adopted MGM Solutions' SecurTRAK in 2008. PanicALERT is SecurTRAK's medical staff duress product which can be activated at the press of a button on the individual's badge holder, immediately notifying police dispatch and integrating with CCTV (closed-circuit television) cameras. With the growing statistic of 154 workplace violence injuries per 10,000 healthcare workers in public hospitals in 2014 alone,(5) this technology has been said to provide peace of mind to staff and their families.
Effective, accurate, flexible and reliable RTLS saves time and money typically spent by staff in attempting to accurately locate tools and equipment. Locating tags in real time can help clinicians get to patients faster in times of need, and lets them accurately locate tools when they're needed.(6)
About MGM Solutions:
MGM Solutions was incorporated in April, 1987, with a vision to create a Real-Time Locating System (RTLS) that can accurately track and protect patients, hospital assets and medical staff. Over the years, MGM has developed a patented triangulation system that integrates a blend of radio frequency, diffused infrared, and low-frequency radio frequency (RF) to accurately track patients, staff and equipment in real time within medical facilities and across large hospital campuses.
CEO and co-founder Michael Maurer is a Navy veteran, and values the need for all veterans to receive quality healthcare with equitable access to physician care and hospitalization. Contact http://www.mgm-Solutions.com.
Sources:
1. Zebra Technologies. "The Future of Healthcare: 2022 Hospital Vision Study." White Paper. Zebra.com/Healthcare. zebra.com/content/dam/zebra_new_ia/en-us/solutions-verticals/vertical-solutions/healthcare/white-paper/2022-hospital-vision-study-en-global.pdf.
2. MGM Solutions. "SecurTrak: How it Helps." On their Website: mgm-solutions.com/how-it-helps.php.
3. RF Code. "4 Ways Asset Tracking Benefits Healthcare Facilities." RF Code, 5 January 2015.
rfcode.com/news/4-ways-asset-tracking-benefits-healthcare-facilities
4. Wong, Wylie. "Real-Time Location Systems Help Hospitals Track the Chaos." Digital Workspace, HealthTech, 16 May 2018. healthtechmagazine.net/article/2018/05/real-time-location-systems-help-hospitals-track-chaos.
5. Esposito, Lisa. "Nurses Face More Violence from Hospital Patients." Health.USNews.com. 18 January 2017. health.usnews.com/wellness/articles/2017-01-18/nurses-face-more-violence-from-hospital-patients.
6. O'Dowd, Elizabeth. "Low-Frequency Aids Accurate Real-Time Asset Tracking in Healthcare." HITInfrastructure, 8 Feb. 2018. hitinfrastructure.com/news/low-frequency-aids-accurate-real-time-asset-tracking-in-healthcare.
SOURCE MGM Solutions
