Health care facilities must continue to improve their efficiency and streamline their operations as patient census levels rise each year. The quest for improved efficiency encompasses five types of needs: Identification and Locating, Tracking, Communication, Workflow, and Analysis. These needs have a definite order of precedence.
The most fundamental need in any department is knowing who and where its patients and resources are; without that basic information, real efficiency is essentially impossible. However, locating only tells you where something is. Departments need to monitor the current status and availability of its patients, staff and assets and record their status and status progression over time. This is tracking. And when a department is able to track patient status, they know more than just where the patients are but who's waiting for a nurse, who's ready for surgery, and who's ready to leave.
Locating and tracking are simply means to a greater end; communicating this information to the audiences who need it is what makes a difference. And having multiple means for doing so is vital. It also facilitates streamlining workflow. If a system can gather, interpret, and communicate data about location, status and status progression of patients and resources, it can apply additional business rules to make and strategically communicate inferences about workflow: what should happen next, who should do it, and when has it been done.
Ultimately, a department that has systematically met all of these needs has gathered a treasure trove of data it can analyze to better understand its operations - and optimize its work process. This process improvement and streamlined operation is the true goal of any tracking system.
