We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies. Cookie Policy.

Features Partner Sites Information LinkXpress
Sign In
Advertise with Us

Download Mobile App




Nurse Tracking System Improves Hospital Workflow

By HospiMedica International staff writers
Posted on 03 Jan 2018
Print article
Image: An NFER system allows researchers to track nurses\' movements in real time (Photo courtesy of Jung Hyup Kim/ MU).
Image: An NFER system allows researchers to track nurses\' movements in real time (Photo courtesy of Jung Hyup Kim/ MU).
An innovative system uses a combination of manual observation and non-intrusive tracking sensors to track intensive care unit (ICU) nurses in real time.

Developed at the University of Missouri (MU; Columbia, USA), the new near field electromagnetic ranging (NFER) system uses a tracking device pinned to ICU nurses to provide a more accurate measure of how much time they spend on various duties throughout their day. With the aid of 16 routers set up throughout the ICU to track the devices, researchers viewed each individual nurses' movements in real time on system monitors. The health care workers are represented as dots overlaid on a floor plan that represent their movement as they perform their duties.

The NFER system also allows researchers to observe if nurses provide patient care or are inputting data during their time spent in each room; they can pinpoint if nurses were at a room's computer terminal or at bedside, and measure the time spent doing each accordingly. By using these measurements and flow patterns, managers and supervisors can help plan nurses' shifts more efficiently, and designers and architects can use the information to design more efficient hospital units, according to the researchers. The study was presented at the annual Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) conference, held during May 2017 in Pittsburg (PA, USA).

“The nurses in an ICU confront heavy daily workloads and face difficulties in managing multiple stressors from their routine work. They're multitaskers, doing many things simultaneously,” said lead author Jung Hyup Kim, PhD, of the Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Department. “For example, while talking with the patient and getting vital signs, they also are charting in the electronic medical record system. We wanted to find ways to streamline their jobs, making them more efficient.”

NFER employs the near-field properties of radio waves as a real time location system (RTLS), which employs transmitter tags and one or more receiving units. Operating within a half-wavelength of a receiver, the transmitter tags use relatively low frequencies to achieve significant ranging. The low-frequency, multipath-resistant characteristics of NFER make it well suited for tracking in dense metallic locations, such as typical office and industrial environments. Depending on the choice of frequency, NFER has a range resolution of 30 cm and ranges up to 300 meters.

Related Links:
University of Missouri

Gold Member
12-Channel ECG
CM1200B
Gold Member
Disposable Protective Suit For Medical Use
Disposable Protective Suit For Medical Use
Silver Member
Wireless Mobile ECG Recorder
NR-1207-3/NR-1207-E
New
Forceps
BiClamp LAP

Print article

Channels

Critical Care

view channel
Image: The permeable wearable electronics developed for long-term biosignal monitoring (Photo courtesy of CityUHK)

Super Permeable Wearable Electronics Enable Long-Term Biosignal Monitoring

Wearable electronics have become integral to enhancing health and fitness by offering continuous tracking of physiological signals over extended periods. This monitoring is crucial for understanding an... Read more

Surgical Techniques

view channel
Image: NTT and Olympus have begun the world\'s first joint demonstration experiment of a cloud endoscopy system (Photo courtesy of Olympus)

Cloud Endoscopy System Enables Real-Time Image Processing on the Cloud

Endoscopes, which are flexible tubes inserted into the body's natural openings for internal examination and biopsy collection, are becoming increasingly vital in medical diagnostics. Their minimal invasiveness... Read more

Patient Care

view channel
Image: The newly-launched solution can transform operating room scheduling and boost utilization rates (Photo courtesy of Fujitsu)

Surgical Capacity Optimization Solution Helps Hospitals Boost OR Utilization

An innovative solution has the capability to transform surgical capacity utilization by targeting the root cause of surgical block time inefficiencies. Fujitsu Limited’s (Tokyo, Japan) Surgical Capacity... Read more

Health IT

view channel
Image: First ever institution-specific model provides significant performance advantage over current population-derived models (Photo courtesy of Mount Sinai)

Machine Learning Model Improves Mortality Risk Prediction for Cardiac Surgery Patients

Machine learning algorithms have been deployed to create predictive models in various medical fields, with some demonstrating improved outcomes compared to their standard-of-care counterparts.... Read more

Point of Care

view channel
Image: The PATHFAST hs-cTnI-II high-sensitivity troponin assay has been developed for the PATHFAST Biomarker Analyzer (Photo courtesy of Polymedco)

POC Myocardial Infarction Test Delivers Results in 17 Minutes

Chest pain is the second leading cause of emergency department (ED) visits by adults in the United States, generating over 7 million visits annually. In the event of a suspected heart attack, physicians... Read more
Copyright © 2000-2024 Globetech Media. All rights reserved.