Blog skyhook logo The Importance of Tracking Assets in a Hospital Environment

Apr 3, 2020 2:05:51 PM

The Importance of Tracking Assets in a Hospital Environment

Posted by Isolde Decker-Lucke

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Understanding where an asset is within a hospital is of the utmost importance, especially during a global pandemic like the one we’re experiencing now. With hospitals reaching capacity, keeping track of patients, monitors, blood bank refrigerators, and other important equipment is incredibly important to the functionality of a hospital in a time of crisis. 

Asset Tracking in Hospitals

A hospital is a busy place - people are running around, moving beds, machines, wheelchairs, etc. from patient rooms to different floors. Hospitals have important devices that are often shared between departments. Locating these devices for quick use can be a frustrating and inefficient process. These resources also need to be regularly serviced and maintained to meet federal standards.  By enabling indoor location tracking on important hospital devices, hospitals improve peace of mind, organization, efficiency, and overall patient care.
 
Indoor positioning refers to the ability to locate connected devices in indoor environments where GPS and other satellites cannot detect them. If a nurse is looking for a mobile X-Ray unit that has been moved, it is incredibly time consuming to ask around, run between exam and patient rooms, etc. Enabling location within those devices will save that nurse critical time and energy.
 
Through smart asset tracking with Skyhook, hospital employees gain the ability to track equipment in both indoor and outdoor environments. With Skyhook, device manufacturers can survey a hospital area with our OnSite app to ensure they have the most accurate map and positioning of the hospital grounds. By utilizing Wi-Fi, our surveying tool can offer outdoor as well as indoor positioning on campus style hospitals to offer patient tracking, along with multiple building positioning. Hospitals can then be immediately notified when someone steals or moves a piece of equipment, a device is moved from its designated space, etc. If a device is stolen or accidentally taken from the hospital and uses another indoor solution that is not utilizing GPS, Wi-Fi, or cell for additional positioning outside like BLE or RFID, they might loose location capabilities once the device leaves their grid. 
 
Location technologies can also alert administrators if a device is low on either battery or supply and needs a refill. If the connected device breaks or shuts down, its last location can be identified with a notification that the device is no longer working and may need maintenance. This automation can help hospitals continue to operate at high speed. 
 
In hospitals, especially right now, time is everything. Having systems in place to identify where any device is located and how efficiently the devices are working is incredibly important. Skyhook provides location services for a variety of hospital use cases. If you are interested in learning more about healthcare asset tracking, we’d be happy to talk to you about them.
 
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