Title

Tracking technology: Lessons learned in two health care sites

Authors

Authors

M. E. Bowen; C. A. Wingrave; A. Klanchar;J. Craighead

Comments

Authors: contact us about adding a copy of your work at STARS@ucf.edu

Abbreviated Journal Title

Technol. Health Care

Keywords

Radio frequency identification device (RFID); real time systems; patient; compliance; patient adherence; nursing staff; staff workload; OLDER-ADULTS; Health Care Sciences & Services; Engineering, Biomedical

Abstract

The aim of this study is to describe the process of staff and patient adoption and compliance of a real-time locating system (RTLS) across two health care settings and present lessons learned. While previous work has examined the technological feasibility of tracking staff and patients in a health care setting in real-time, these studies have not described the critical adoption issues that must be overcome for deployment. The ability to track and monitor individual staff and patients presents new opportunities for improving workflow, patient health and reducing health care costs. A RTLS is introduced in both a long-term care and a polytrauma transitional rehabilitation program (PTRP) in a Veterans Hospital to track staff and patient locations and five lessons learned are presented from our experiences and responses to emergent technological, work-related and social barriers to adoption. We conclude that successful tracking in a health care environment requires time and careful consideration of existing work, policies and stakeholder needs which directly impact the efficacy of the technology.

Journal Title

Technology and Health Care

Volume

21

Issue/Number

3

Publication Date

1-1-2013

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

191

Last Page

197

WOS Identifier

WOS:000319617500001

ISSN

0928-7329

Share

COinS