Tracking Patients And Medical Equipment In Real Time At The Jan Yperman Hospital

The project at the Jan Yperman hospital constitutes one of the first of its kind in the Belgian hospital sector. With a state-of-the-art network, the hospital is capitalizing on its investment by opting for a "Wi-Fi–Based Active RFID solution", adopting a wide range of AeroScout (http://aeroscout.com) applications for tracking patients and medical equipment in real time.

This solution has many uses:

• Approximately 1,000 pieces of equipment (infusion pumps, wheelchairs, beds, patient monitors, etc.) were fitted with AeroScout Wi-Fi–based Active RFID tags, saving medical staff precious time in locating these items, and making it easier for managers to maintain them, establish an inventory and reduce the risk of theft.
• Temperature-monitoring tags are used for refrigerators containing lab specimens, blood bags and other sensitive items — continuous monitoring will ensure safe operation and correct temperatures.
• Approximately 400 tags with call buttons ensure that medical staff, who are sometimes confronted with aggressive patients, are better protected.
• The tags are also a useful tool for keeping track of disoriented patients such as those suffering from Alzheimer's.
• In the future, the integration of this technology into certain hospital software applications will make it possible to follow patients through all the stages of their hospital stay, from admission to discharge. This integration will be carried out by Telindus' partner hict.

Thanks to Telindus, the hospital was equipped with a LAN and a powerful Wi-Fi network. The network design and the installation of the access points were determined by a detailed site survey. In addition to the access points, the building was fitted with 120 AeroScout Exciters, 1,000 tags for tracking equipment in real time, 400 tags equipped with a call button and 40 tags capable of temperature monitoring. Telindus also installed AeroScout's MobileView software for all of the hospital's various requirements for visualization, alerting and reporting.

The Jan Yperman hospital was established in 1998 through the merger of three existing hospitals. The hospital has about 550 beds, 1,000 employees and 100 doctors. Per year, the Jan Yperman hospital has 15,000 patient admissions and 18,000 one-day hospitalizations.

In November 2007, a completely new building was inaugurated, for which state-of-the-art telecommunication equipment was selected.

About Telindus
The Telindus Group, operating under the brand Telindus Belgacom ICT, is the ICT pillar of the Belgacom Group and provides solutions to a variety of private, semi-public and public-sector companies. Its offer includes voice, data and video convergence products, secure network applications and telepresence and video monitoring solutions. Occupying a strong position in Great Britain, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Luxembourg, the Telindus Group reinforces the Belgacom Group's presence on the European telecoms market.

The Telindus Group, led by Michel De Coster, is composed of two separate entities: Telindus SA and Telindus International.

About AeroScout
AeroScout is the market leader in Unified Asset Visibility solutions. Customers improve operational efficiency using AeroScout products that leverage standard Wi-Fi networks to track and manage the location, condition and status of mobile assets and people. AeroScout's global customer base consists of leading hospital, manufacturing and logistics organizations, including many of the Fortune 500. The company originally invented the first Wi-Fi-based Active RFID tag, and today is widely recognized as leading the market in number of deployments and tags shipped. Headquartered in Redwood City, Calif., AeroScout has offices in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and Australia. For more information, please visit www.aeroscout.com (http://www.aeroscout.com) .

About hict
hict, arisen from the specific needs present in the health care sector. The health care market is under pressure. Due to organisational changes, economic interests, legal provisions, technological innovations and also because people are simply living longer, the focus of a health care organisation sometimes shifts too far away from the core business, namely patient care. hict puts the sector and more specifically, the patient, at the centre of its work. With an experienced team, international knowledge of the sector and, above all, a ‘hands-on' approach. hict gives management and IT advice to health care providers, suppliers of healthcare providers and public services. www.hict.com (http://www.hict.com)

SOURCE: Jan Yperman hospital