Adventist Health White Memorial (AHWM) has boosted its operating room (OR) efficiency, achieving a 10 percent turnaround time improvement by deploying a real-time location system (RTLS) technology-based solution. The system identifies the location and status of each patient from when he or she is admitted until that person is sent home.
The workflow-management solution, known as Tagnos OR, is provided by technology company Tagnos. It consists of an integrated software solution that brings visibility in real time to help health-care providers serve surgical suite patients efficiently, as well as analytics to improve scheduling in the long term.
Adventist Health White Memorial
The hospital is using CenTrak RTLS wristband tags and receivers to capture the location data, and Zebra Technologies‘ Android-based mobile computers, running a Tagnos app. Using the system, health-care providers can view information regarding patients’ status before, during and after a surgical procedure.
The solution allows for faster care delivery and improved patient satisfaction, according to Randy Saad, AHWM’s director of perioperative services. Operating rooms are inherently expensive—their use can cost approximately $41 per minute—so saving even five minutes between procedures can be significant. But for AHWM, the solution started with a more basic incentive: ensuring that patients could be served efficiently with minimal wait times.
The system was launched a decade ago to track patients’ movements. This year, however, the hospital added room-status data that helps its staff to manage not only the movements of patients, but also the activity in surgical rooms to more efficiently move patients through those rooms.
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