Tracking technology: Lessons learned in two health care sites

    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