Patient Flow
Elpas Patient Flow gives hospitals the ability to monitor and analyze how patients are moving through different stages of care delivery. The result can be improved patient care, satisfaction, and an increase in hospital revenue without the need for new building programs, supplemental capital investments or additional workforce expansions.
How Patient Flow Works
At the time of admission, each patient is provided with an Elpas Patient Tag which transmits real-time location visibility. These tags are used to monitor how patients move through the different stages of care delivery, freeing staff from the time consuming task of manual record keeping.
Hospital personnel are provided with automated time stamped dashboard-like snapshots of the current care status of each patient, graphically overlaid onto the relevant floor plan. This information can also be displayed on electronic boards in waiting rooms updating family and friends as to the progress of a patient’s treatment.
Finally, to facilitate better task coordination, automated alerts can also be sent to medical staff allowing them to check on patients waiting for treatment, to update room status, to transfer patients or to issue housekeeping requests.
Hospital wide visibility
- Supporting nurse station and waiting room display boards
- Providing patient direction boards between departments
- Locating and identifying missing patients
- Indicating patient room status (e.g. available, occupied, requires housekeeping, being cleaned)
- Logging patient, staff and asset interactions
Automated alerts
- Handling patient movement between departments
- Notifying medical staff to check on patients still waiting to be seen
- Automating room status updates and issuing housekeeping requests
- Improving coordination and communication among staff members
Robust reporting tools
- Identifying operational bottlenecks
- Analyzing patient wait times
- Evaluating patient-staff-equipment interactions
- Optimizing room/bed utilization
Main Process
1. Patient is Admitted
Once the patient arrives at the ER, a tag is immediately easily clipped on to the patient. The tag's color will vary according to the severity of the patient's injuries. The button on the tag is pressed in order to activate and enroll the tag to the system. The system enables authorized personnel customize the tag name and enter patient information. This is performed at the user-friendly touch-screen nurse station after entering a PIN code.
2. Locating and Tracking a Patient
The ELPAS EIRIS™ Local Positioning System (LPS) provides real-time tracking of patients, enabling immediate pinpointing of their location down to the exact room location and exit location. The system uses revolutionary IRFID™ triple technology that combines IR, RF (UHF), and LF (RF low frequency transponder) signals. This triple technology combines the advantages of each technology – the exact room location precision of IR, the immense range and constant communication of RF, and the range sensitivity of LF – thus providing a scalable, powerful and cost effective tracking and identification solution. The location of the tag can be displayed on a graphic display map or as an alphanumeric list (including patient details).
3. Badge Status Flow
As the time passes, the original severity status defined when the patient was admitted may change. The system enables performing changes in the status of the tag. These changes are recorded in the EIRIS database.
4. Escort Feature
Incorporating the LF technology on all exits from wards, the system is able to identify whether an authorized person is escorting the patient out of the exit. Personnel wearing the ELPAS staff tags are recognized by the system as authorized to leave the monitored area with patients, without activating an alarm. All escort activities are recorded in the EIRIS database and can be referred to at a later time.
5. Real-Time Information Processing
Using the Report Generator it is possible to generate reports reflecting the current state.
6. Discharging Patient
When the patient is discharged, the tag's state must be changed to Discharge. The status of a tag is managed by authorized personnel and can be changed via the RDU (Remote Display Unit) or using the Nurse Station PC touch screen.
7. Generating History Reports
There are a number of different reports which can be generated, providing vital information. Examples of such reports include: Display of patients present and past whereabouts, the number of patients admitted throughout the event and their severity etc.
In Addition:
- HL7 ADT Integraion
Elpas' HL7 interface updates its internal database upon receipt of ADT (Admit, Discharge, Transfer) events from the Hospital's management system. This interface avoids duplicate entry and allows staff to continue to work with a single information system.
- Advanced system supervision
Patient tag and infrastructure supervision includes automatic system alert notifications, audit trails and system logs
- Highly Scalable Tag Capacity
Additional patients can be added at any time without risk
- Flexible Alert Notification Output
Supports paging services, display panels, SMS messages, emails, automated PA announcements and warning messages on computer screens
- Back-End Integration
Supports easy integration with other hospital systems
- Use-Friendly Software
Real-time interactive screens for managing patients from admission through discharge
- High Availability
Distributed local control ensures ongoing patient monitoring even when network segments or the RTLS server are offline
- International Safety Compliance
CE, FCC and IC compliant; generates no EMI interference
Elpas Patient Flow also supports easy integration with other Elpas Safety, Security and Visibility Solutions as well as legacy systems and processes. The solution helps
hospital decision makers monitor and analyze key performance indicators and gain a better understanding of the steps that can be taken to increase patient throughput.