Awarepoint, Meditech integrates to track medical patients

RFIS News:  Awarepoint announced that it will integrate its real-time location (RTLS) system for health care environments with Meditech’s electronic health record (EHR). The effort aims to improve throughput and patient safety in hospital emergency departments (ED).

The 210-bed Monongahela Valley Hospital, Pa., is one of the first hospitals in the country to implement the EHR-RLTS combination. The partnership combines Awarepoint’s awareEDTracker system with the EHR management module, known as Meditech EDM.

Patients entering the hospital are registered in the Meditech EDM and then given RFID tags, which are monitored by awareEDTracker. The Awarepoint system finds open beds for patients, as well as available doctors, nurses, and other relevant staff to dispatch to the bedside.

Staff can view patient locations as they move through the hospital and the Awarepoint system sends updates to the Meditech EHR, in real-time. awareEDTracker logs and records patient interactions with physicians and other staff, also wearing RFID tags. The RTLS system timestamps when staff members enter the room to perform various procedures, and it then sends this information to the EHR. [end]