Department of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2012 Jul-Aug;19(4):674-9. doi: 10.1136/amiajnl-2011-000560. Epub 2012 Feb 1.
Real-time locating systems (RTLS) have the potential to enhance healthcare systems through the live tracking of assets, patients and staff. This study evaluated a commercially available RTLS system deployed in a clinical setting, with three objectives: (1) assessment of the location accuracy of the technology in a clinical setting; (2) assessment of the value of asset tracking to staff; and (3) assessment of threshold monitoring applications developed for patient tracking and inventory control. Simulated daily activities were monitored by RTLS and compared with direct research team observations. Staff surveys and interviews concerning the system's effectiveness and accuracy were also conducted and analyzed. The study showed only modest location accuracy, and mixed reactions in staff interviews. These findings reveal that the technology needs to be refined further for better specific location accuracy before full-scale implementation can be recommended.
实时定位系统（RTLS）有可能通过对资产、患者和员工的实时跟踪来增强医疗系统。本研究评估了在临床环境中部署的一种商业可用的 RTLS 系统，其目的有三个：（1）评估该技术在临床环境中的位置准确性；（2）评估资产跟踪对员工的价值；（3）评估为患者跟踪和库存控制开发的阈值监测应用程序。RTLS 监控模拟的日常活动，并与直接研究团队的观察结果进行比较。还对系统的有效性和准确性进行了员工调查和访谈，并进行了分析。研究表明，位置准确性仅略高于平均水平，而员工访谈的反应则好坏参半。这些发现表明，在推荐全面实施之前，该技术需要进一步改进，以提高特定位置的准确性。
