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Real Time Location Systems Adoption in Hospitals - a Review and a Case Study for Locating Assets

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Real Time Location Systems Adoption in Hospitals - a Review and a Case Study for Locating Assets ACTA SCIENTIFIC MEDICAL SCIENCES Volume 2 Issue 7 October 2018 Research Article Real Time Location Systems Adoption in Hospitals - A Review and A Case Study for Locating Assets Sara Paiva1*, Diogo Brito2 and Lionel Leiva-Marcon3 1ARC4Digit - Applied Research Centre for Digital Transformation, Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo, Portugal 2Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo, Portugal 3Proactive Swiss, Route de Saint - Cergue 303, Nyon, Swiss *Corresponding Author: Sara Paiva, ARC4Digit - Applied Research Centre for Digital Transformation, Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo, Portugal. Received: August 27, 2018; Published: September 10, 2018 Abstract Real time location systems (RTLS) can assume a big relevance in a hospital environment. Plenty of studies have been reported at this respect and we start by providing a literature review on some of them, so it is clearer to the reader the variety of scenarios RTLSs can be applied to in a hospital environment as well as benefits they might have. As main contribution of this work, we introduce our own proposal of a RTLS in a hospital environment with the main goal to provide technicians the possibility to quickly find for a given equipment, through a website in a desktop computer we assume to exist in each floor. This particular proposal started from the need to find urgent equipment, such as a reanimation machine, that can represent a life or death situation. We introduce the components the system in three main scenarios we foresee as a potential problem that could exist in a real scenario because of the beacon signal of the architecture, that mainly rely on beacons and Raspberry Pies. We detail implementation aspects and present the evaluation of interference: placement of raspberry pie’s, materials of buildings and signals from other equipment. The main conclusion is that the system is totally adequate for non-visit moments and in buildings not made of concrete high thickness. For the rest of the situations, we provided recommendations regarding the placement of receptors. Keywords: Real-Time Location Systems; Indoor Tracking; Assets Tracking and Monitoring; Healthcare Improvement Introduction device is made directly on the device and usually uses an app which Real-time location systems (RTLS) are becoming much more usually also contains a database with which the signal strength is used since wireless technologies started to provide the necessary analyzes the signals of Wi-Fi access points, LED and/or beacons and matched. Asset tracking depend of its nature and location. Indoor infrastructure to develop useful services. RTLS refers to a general environment changes radically the technologies that can be used area of technology that allows to determine the current position of and almost excludes GPS and cellular based systems due to their an object based on real-time information gathered through a wire- lack of signal. In these situations, other technologies arise such less system of some sort [1] we mainly can have two perspectives systems are built upon: serv- . When speaking about RTLS systems, er-based and client-based RTLS systems. And they mainly differ on as Radio-frequency identification (RFID), Wi-Fi or, more recently, that use some of these technologies include equipment tracking, whether the object being located is moving or standing still. The Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology. Some existent scenarios [2], among others. Some of these scenarios represent typical server-based cases of RTLS to track vehicles but currently we assist this technol- real time personnel finding, patient and guest finding global positioning system (GPS) was one of the first well-known ogy being used in outdoor environment in several scenarios such tag or a Bluetooth beacon sending out a unique key that is captured as logistics applications, transportation management or land-based RTLS scenarios that is characterized by a Wi-Fi enabled device, a transports. In this case - client-based system - the positioning of the by a specific hardware that transmits it to a server that calculates Citation: Sara Paiva., et al. “Real Time Location Systems Adoption in Hospitals - A Review and A Case Study for Locating Assets”. Acta Scientific Medical Sciences 2.7 (2018): 02-17. Real Time Location Systems Adoption in Hospitals - A Review and A Case Study for Locating Assets 03 - scenarios are totally adequate and currently very used for asset nologies that started to be used to make RTLSs. It is a technology positioning using a specific algorithm or techniques. Server-based the proposal this paper presents. RFID was one of the first tech tracking in hospitals. In Brito [3] we presented a server-based ar- - - cal RFID system works with three elements: a scanning antenna, a that uses electromagnetic fields to identify and track objects. A typi sets in hospitals. This paper is an extension of our previous work transceiver and the RFID tag. The antenna scans for tags, and when chitecture positioning system using BLE precisely for tracking as and it contains a more detailed related work section regarding the tag detects the activation signal, send the information. The RFID RTLS in hospital environments, in order to meet the readers of this technology is more used to simulate bar codes and can be used to journal. The technological description of the solution is also more track several things such as materials or even animals (and maybe detailed. one day humans). This technology is not the best for indoor loca- tion because it doesn’t give us a precise location of the tag, it can The rest of this paper is organized as follows: in the next section only say where the object is in an area. In addition, there are some we refer to real time location systems, technologies used and also several cases of application in hospital environments and the ben- - considerable costs associated when configuring a system because ment is now in several scenarios replacing RFID, as its evolution. overview of the main goals we wish to achieve and then explaining a lot of antennas are required. Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) equip efits of its adoption. Next, we present our solution starting with an algorithms used to calculate equipment coordinates, considering Known also as Bluetooth Smart, it was introduced in 2006 by Nokia the components that make part of the architecture. We explain the and get the name has we know it today. Beacons are an extension of - under the name of Wibree and merged in 2010 with Bluetooth 4.0 tation tests regarding possible situations that could lead to signal broadcasts much smaller packets of data and can operate on a logic three main scenarios we identified. Next, we present experimen the BLE technology. In difference with conventional Bluetooth, BLE blocking namely with the interference materials have. Finally, we board with a coin battery on it and it’s very cheap to produce or present discussion and conclusions of our work. - buy. Nowadays, depending on which beacons we use, we can choose Real Time Locations Systems (RTLS) though they are almost the same because both broadcasts the same between packets to broadcast the data: iBeacon and Eddystone. Al Real-Time Location Systems are used to automatically identify packet is broadcasted too that can give us some additional infor- and track the location of equipment or people in real time [4]. It information, the Eddystone packets have an advantage: a telemetry uses a combination of hardware and software to produce a global also be used for the purpose of indoor location because it is pres- system that allows businesses to provide end services to their cli- mation, such as the battery voltage or the temperature. Wi-Fi can ents with a variety of different applications. In the next sections, we ent in almost every place. However, it can represent an elevate cost will introduce some of the technologies RTLS typically uses, refer considering the necessity of having a big number of routers; it is to the architecture usually behind RTLS systems and go deeper into not easy to get a precise indoor location; adding, removing or sim- the applications and how RTLS are being used in hospitals. RSSI map. Bluetooth falls in the scope of wireless technologies to ply changing the location of a router/AP has a direct impact on the Technologies exchange data over short distances. It can be adequate to transmit Technologies and system concepts used to create a RTLS are Raspberry PI (RP) placed strategically. A RP is no more than a small several [5] - information from moving assets with RFID or BLE to, for example a computer that has the ability to receive data through Bluetooth : Active radio frequency identification (Active RFID), Ac (and other technologies) and communicate it to a central server for tive radio frequency identification, Infrared (IR), Optical locating, further processing. Low-frequency signpost identification, Semi-active radio frequency Steerable Phased Array Antennae, Radio beacon, Ultrasound Iden- identification (semi-active RFID), Passive RFID RTLS locating via RTLS in Hospitals The growth of the health service as well as the need for medi- tification (US-ID), Ultrasonic ranging (US-RTLS), Ultra-wideband cal care means that the health units are continually challenged to (UWB), Wide-over-narrow band, Wireless Local Area Network provide better service to patients, and quality and safety are im- (WLAN, Wi-Fi), Bluetooth, Clustering in noisy ambience or Bivalent portant parameters. RTLS appear in this context as a way to ensure systems. We will refer next to the most important ones regarding Citation: Sara Paiva., et al. “Real Time Location Systems Adoption in Hospitals - A Review and A Case Study for Locating Assets”. Acta Scientific Medical Sciences 2.7 (2018): 02-17. Real Time Location Systems Adoption in Hospitals - A Review and A Case Study for Locating Assets 04 safety and security to patients and, in the end, to the entire health authors also enhance the importance of considering the several unit as a whole.
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