Health Care Needs Better Asset Tracking Systems
Businesses of all kinds can better control their bottom line when they commit to implementing a comprehensive asset tracking system. In days gone by a company owner would endeavor to keep track of such things as payroll and human resources himself, or by hiring someone. Even with that aspect covered there still remain a myriad of jobs including inventory control, asset management, and the production control and management that can easily get lost in the shuffle.
Thankfully the tedious chore of keeping track of assets – a job once done by hand and stored in stacks of ledger books – can now be handled with computer software, and the little miracle known as the barcode. The first computerized asset tracking systems, developed for large conglomerates, were simply not suitable for use by small to medium sized businesses. Today there is a range of asset tracking systems that offer even the individual entrepreneur a way to manage things just like the big guys.
One of the largest areas in our society that just cries out for tracking and control is the health care system. Our population has greatly increased and our hospitals and medical personnel are stressed. People are living longer and as they age become susceptible to more health problems than ever before. Drug companies have developed pills for every conceivable malady, from cancer to erectile dysfunction, and just keeping track of a patient’s medications can be a complicated business.
With asset tracking software, the high-tech medical devices used in every hospital, can be tagged and easily located for service by clinical and bio-med engineers. In settings where equipment is not accounted for, there is no way to set up preventative maintenance, or to rectify a manufacturers recall. Only when equipment is routinely looked after can patients receive the care they deserve.
Hospitals and clinics have a lot of equipment coming and going, and they often have difficulty managing medical equipment that is loaned and rented out. Patients are admitted in emergency situations, or with chronic problems, then when they are discharged they require such things as infusion pumps, wheelchairs, and walkers. Without the resources and personnel to oversee the signing out and return of such medical aids, huge numbers of assets are lost or stolen on an annual basis. With an inventory control system in place this sad situation can be tackled and remedied.
For example, temperature monitoring of medications, food, supplies, lab facilities and so on in hospitals and health care institutions is a huge requirement demanded by the regulatory authorities. Monitoring must be done by staff over and above their regular work. Nurses and pharmacy and lab staff must ensure that equipment is running properly which means they must monitor and log the temperature of hundreds of refrigeration units.
Tasks like this are very often done manually, several times a day to make sure that drugs, vaccines, tissue samples, organs, blood and food are stored within safe ranges. Modern technology makes it possible to place temperature sensing tags in each refrigerator or freezer with data feeds directly to recording and monitoring systems. Data can be collected by a network every few minutes. Whenever a malfunction occurs, a warning is sent out. In this way the patient, the hospital staff, and the entire system are protected.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 at 4:49 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.