Sonitor sends out strong signals in US
Sonitor’s ultrasound based hospital equipment tracking systems continue to make strong inroads in the US. Together with IBM and Agilsys they have installed a Real-Time Location Services system (RTLS) at St Michaels Medical Center, Newark, NJ.
Saint Michael's Medical Center is using RTLS to automatically track equipment, alert staff when the required level of equipment is running low, and to ensure compliance with patient safety regulations. The new system will initially track more than 2,000 pieces of equipment across Saint Michael's. Ultrasound tags attached to equipment broadcast a unique identification signal to receivers without the risk of electromagnetic interference with other electronic patient care equipment. The ultrasound identification data is used by IBM's Real-Time Location Service software to not only track and visualize equipment with location accuracy to zone, room or sub-room levels, but to generate alerts and automate responses. For example, an alert can be generated when a heart monitor leaves an assigned area without authorization, or if a crash cart sits in the hallway too long.
"Saint Michael's is always under cost pressures, looking for ways to improve efficiency and focus more on the patient," said Angelo Schittone, vice president and chief information officer at Saint Michael's Medical Center. "We have highly skilled staff and caregivers. The new system allows our biomedical engineering team to better use their time managing and maintaining equipment and allows nurses to focus on patient care rather than looking for equipment".
And gets personal
Sonitor has also introduced a new Staff Tag. Developed in close cooperation with leading healthcare information technology providers and their hospital clients, the Staff Tag is small and lightweight and allows the facility’s personal identification badge to be easily attached to provide an integrated badge system. The Staff Tag also features two buttons and a multi-colour LED that enables the wearer to communicate requests or status remotely, thus saving time and enhancing workflow. www.sonitor.com
Turning healthcare wireless
A Scandinavian Consortium of sensor developers, research institutions and companies has recently finalised the follow-on Biomedical Wireless Sensor network (BWSN 2) project (www.bwsn.net) funded by Nordic Innovations Centre and SNN. Continuing the first project were from Sweden: Millicore, Novosense and Imego. from Norway Memscap, Novelda and the Interventional Centre at Oslo University Hospital and from Finland VTT. New project partners this time round were Delta from Denmark, and SINTEF from Norway. The BWSN projects have the same objective of linking all the various stages of patient treatment pathways - from home to hospital – through the use of wireless sensors. During BSWN2 , a network of 7 wireless sensors has been implemented on a software platform from Imatis As. Preliminary clinical tests have been made in experimental and lab setting and the results can be seen on a video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIHJTl7JMSE The project has aroused considerable interest internationally and Norway, which already has strong telemedicine traditions is looking at further ways to secure leadership in this area through the Oslo Medtech Cluster and various Trondheim initiatives.