Palos Community Hospital Improves Operating Room Efficiency With RTLS Technology

Palos Community Hospital, the major healthcare provider for Chicago’s southwest suburbs, is improving efficiency and patient care in its surgery department with Advantages OR, a patient flow system powered by the Real-time Locating System (RTLS) from Versus Technology, Inc.

Surgical suites are dynamic environments where numerous staff and patient interactions must take place before, during and after surgery. If these interactions don’t happen in the correct order, or in a timely manner, surgery schedules can be delayed, resulting in longer stays for patients and inefficient use of expensive resources, such as surgeon and OR time.

Palos Community Hospital is overcoming these inherent challenges by improving the flow of patients through surgery using the Versus Advantages OR patient flow system. The solution was added to their existing Versus RTLS in March of 2013.

Both patients and staff wear a Versus Clearview badge to identify their locations using a highly reliable and accurate infrared (IR) and radio frequency (RFID) platform. The location information, along with integrated data from Palos’ Meditech EMR, is relayed to Advantages. The technology gives Palos:

• Real-time visibility of patient locations and status (waiting for anesthesia, in surgery, etc.)
• Prompts so staff know where to go next (patient ready for surgeon, room ready for turnover, etc.)
• Passive data collection for historical reporting to help with process improvement initiatives

Susan Pouzar, Vice President of Sales for Versus Technology, describes the solution as essential to Palos’ 14 advanced ORs. “Ensuring that everyone is aware not only of the patient’s physical location, but also where she is in the surgical process, is key to efficiently moving patients through the department.”

Since 2012, Palos has leveraged their RTLS for asset tracking and nurse call automation. “Versus’ experience with multiple department deployments was a major factor in Palos’ selection process,” notes Pouzar. “The hospital is currently using the system in three different ways, and may further expand its use. That helps Palos lower the total cost of ownership.”

The Advantages Asset Management system tracks 1,400 IV pumps across 400,000 square feet. The solution helps reduce loss, tracks utilization, and helps ensure each department is properly stocked with ready-to-use pumps.

RTLS also automates Rauland-Borg’s Responder 5 nurse call system. When a patient calls the nurse for assistance, the Clearview badge identifies her presence in the room, automatically canceling the call. This allows the nurse to immediately focus on the patient instead of searching for the cancel button.

Interstate Electronics Company, a 10-year veteran Versus System Integrator serving the Chicago area, installed and maintains both the Responder and Versus systems.

To learn more about these and other uses for RTLS in the clinical environment, visit Versus’ website at versustech.com or see Versus at an upcoming healthcare conference listed atversustech.com/events.

About Palos Community Hospital
Palos Community Hospital’s ongoing mission is to strive to provide quality health care. By combining the medical expertise of highly skilled physicians and nurses with state-of-the-art technology and a comprehensive approach to treatment, Palos is committed to delivering compassionate health care in a healing environment. Palos Community Hospital is a 428-bed not-for-profit health care facility located in Palos Heights, Ill. As one of the area’s leading hospitals, Palos has been serving the communities of the Southwest suburbs for 40 years. More than 500 affiliate physicians represent more than 40 specialties and subspecialties.

About Interstate Electronics Company
Interstate Electronics Company is Chicago’s leading integrator of audio, video, communications, security and data solutions. With more than forty years of communication systems experience, our staff of professionals has amassed the knowledge and expertise to implement large-scale communications systems projects. This is evident in the thousands of projects completed for clients throughout the Chicago area in schools, hospitals, business offices, trading facilities, professional sports stadiums, correctional institutions, churches and airports.

About Versus Technology, Inc.
Established in 1988, Versus Technology, Inc. specializes in Real-time Locating Systems (RTLS) for healthcare. Used by more than 700 hospitals for enterprise patient tracking, bed management, asset tracking, and nurse call automation, Versus improves patient flow and documentation of caregiver and patient interactions, while enhancing communication and efficiency. The Versus infrared (I­R) and Active RFID solution is responsible for clinical-grade location and automation at hospitals, clinics and long-term care facilities worldwide. For more information, visit versustech.com.