Real-Time Asset Tracking in Hospitals to Enhance Patient Care

A modern hospital environment is always busy and fast-paced with everyone on their toes. Whether in emergency rooms or operation theaters, all medical professionals rely the most on their medical equipment to provide the best possible care to their patients. Now imagine a situation where the administrator wasn’t able to keep track wheelchair or the doctor was not able to find his tools.

This is where Real-Time Asset Tracking in Hospitals saves the day. Technologies like RTLS hospital tracking and Healthcare Asset Tracking Systems ensure that medical equipment is always within reach and create an efficient environment. It’s commendable how asset Tracking in Hospitals transforms the way hospitals manage their equipment, reduce wastage and provide patients with a satisfactory experience. 

What is Hospital Asset Tracking?

Nurses and staff typically spend 20–30% of their time searching for equipment. Asset tracking cuts this wasted effort significantly.

Wheelchairs, surgical instruments, ventilators, and others—hospitals rely on so many tools and equipment for daily operations. Hospital asset tracking is an advanced and highly efficient method of monitoring and managing medical assets present in the hospital. It uses BLE ( Bluetooth Low Energy ) , and Wi-Fi to track medical supplies so they are available when needed.

A healthcare asset tracking system ensures that these resources are not just stolen or misplaced but rather efficiently utilized. It greatly reduces unnecessary procurement needs, streamlines inventory management and timely maintenance.

In fact, asset tracking in healthcare is also useful for patient safety. For example, it prevents infant mix-ups and helps with real-time monitoring of patient beds. Modern problems need modern solutions, and an asset tracking and management solution is best in ensuring life-saving equipment is ready to use.

The solution not only tracks equipment in hospitals but can also be used for staff and patient tracking in hospitals.

How Does RTLS Hospital Tracking Work?

An RTLS hospital tracking system needs a properly connected network of BLE tags, gateways, and software to locate and manage assets within the space. This is how these systems work:

1. Tagging Assets: All medical devices are attached with a BLE tag.
2. Gateways: The tags send signals to gateways that are strategically placed all across the hospital.
3. Real-Time Tracking: The system keeps on updating asset locations so that hospital staff can accurately locate equipment on the dashboard.
4. Alerts & Notifications: All assets are given designated areas, and if they move beyond that, the system notifies the users and prevents misplacement/theft of equipment.

The Benefits of Asset Tracking and Management Solution in Hospitals

Here’s an overview of the benefits of asset tracking and management solutions in hospitals.

1. Reduces Equipment Search Time

It’s common in hospitals that the staff waste a lot of time searching for equipment, mostly because it’s not where it’s supposed to be. This impacts operational efficiencies. A healthcare asset tracking system helps in finding assets just in time so that professionals can focus on patient care rather than looking for them everywhere.

2. Preventing Loss and Theft

Medical equipment is expensive. If they get misplaced or stolen, it is a big financial loss for the hospital. With RTLS hospital tracking in place, it’s possible to prevent theft and unauthorized movement. The geofencing alerts immediately notify supervisors whenever an asset leaves a designated spot.

3. Enhancing Patient Care

Taking care of patients becomes more efficient when professionals have their tools and devices available and within reach. It would be such a serious situation if it’s an emergency and the staff can’t find the free wheelchair. But with an asset tracking and management solution, the staff can quickly find assets, thereby minimizing treatment delays.

4. Optimizing Equipment Utilization

Hospitals often have to unnecessarily and repeatedly purchase medical devices because there’s no proper record of their usage. A hospital asset management system makes it easier to know which equipment is underutilized or overused in real time. Eventually, this helps in cost-cutting and the best allocation of resources.

5. Compliance and Maintenance

When it comes to maintenance and sterilization of equipment, hospitals can’t avoid it. They can use asset tracking in healthcare system to receive automatic maintenance schedules regarding timely servicing of the equipment and comply with the standards.

6. Emergency Preparedness

Emergencies need quick response. The RTLS hospital tracking, technology helps the emergency medical teams to quickly locate necessary equipment. This is how hospitals can reduce response times and improve patient care.

An asset tracking and management solution in hospitals ensures availability, efficiency, compliance, and cost savings—all of which directly improve patient safety and hospital reputation.

Why BLE is used for Asset Tracking in Hospitals

For efficient tracking of hospital equipment, getgeo relies on BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) based technology. BLE is a wireless communication tool that uses very little power for inter-device communication. This is how it keeps working for longer hours without the need for frequent battery replacements.

What makes BLE such a fantastic technology for hospitals is the fact that it not only gives the general area location but also the exact room or corner where you can find the asset you are looking for. At getgeo, we focus primarily on BLE-based tracking because it is relatively very cost-effective, consumes less energy and can be scaled as per the growth needs of the hospital. 

By implementing BLE-enabled Healthcare Asset Tracking Systems on the premises, hospitals can always make sure that all of their important equipment and tools are in the right place at the right time leading to enhanced patient care.

The Future of Asset Management in Hospitals

With the introduction of IoT (Internet of Things) and AI in healthcare, asset tracking in hospitals is going to be a common scene. With benefits like predictive analytics and maintenance alerts, asset management in hospitals will become even more efficient in the coming years. Those healthcare-providing facilities that invest in asset management technologies will definitely benefit from cost savings, achieve operational efficiency, and satisfy their patients.

Conclusion

Every second counts in the medical environment, and so asset tracking in healthcare has become a big necessity. A healthcare asset tracking system in place helps improve resource management and patient care while also reducing financial losses.

By using asset tracking and management solutions, hospitals can ensure that track their medical devices in real time and always have them available, especially in emergencies. It’s highly recommended that hospitals invest in a Healthcare Asset tracking system and getgeo will be your trusted partner for asset tracking needs!