Patient’s trip

Admitting. At check-in, the patient is given a tracking badge, which is attached to his wrist, next to the hospital ID bracelet. The badge emits continuous IR signals to ceiling-mounted sensors throughout the area. It also has a unique barcode associated with the patient that is typed into the OR Tracker system.

Let the tracking begin. The tracking — of time and location — now starts and doesn’t end until the patient is discharged or admitted to the nursing unit. For each milestone (such as entering the surgery suite or recovery) that the patient reaches, a new sub-clock begins, so nurses can determine how long patients spend, for example, in the waiting room, in the pre-op room and prepped and waiting to go into the OR. Location is always tracked; even if a patient is in the restroom, the patient’s location is on the board where everyone who needs to know can view it.

Pre-op arrival. The patient heads to a pre-op room, escorted by a member of the admitting staff. She presses the a call button labeled “patient in” on the room’s wall, and two things happen: a light mounted outside the room lights up to signal that a patient is in the room, and a text message is sent to the cell phone of the nurse and nurse’s aide assigned to that room.

Readied for surgery. The assigned pre-op nurse arrives in the room, completes final documentation, starts the IV and preps the patient. When all pre-op tasks are completed, the nurse pushes the next call button on the wall, “patient ready.” The indicator light outside the room changes, and an icon shows up next to the patient’s last name on the e-greaseboard (OR Tracker), the many intranet-connected monitors staff check to determine patient location and progress.

To the OR. By looking at the e-greaseboard, OR staff now knows the patient is prepped, and an anesthesiologist and surgery nurse go pick him up. Before the patient is wheeled out, the “room dirty” nurse-call button is pushed, which changes the room dome light color and sends a text message to the housekeeper’s pager. (There is one staffer for all 56 pre-op beds.) The room status also shows up on OR Tracker so another patient isn’t assigned to the room until it’s clean. After housekeeping has cleaned the room, the “room clean” button is pushed, which turns off the indicator light and clears the room for use on OR Tracker.

In the OR. When the infrared /radiofrequency sensors detect the patient’s arrival in the OR, an icon — a little face with a surgical mask on it — appears next to the patient’s name on the e-greaseboard. The procedure start time is shown next to the scheduled start time. When the surgery is complete, before the patient heads to recovery, a nurse pushes the “change over” button, which signals that the room needs to be cleaned and prepared for the next case. A text message is sent to the crew who clean the room. A nurse then pushes the “short stay” or “PACU” call button, depending on where the patient is headed. The area where the patient is going gets a request via the e-greaseboard that the patient’s arrival is pending. The charge nurse assigns the bed number, which is instantly communicated to the OR and all the monitors.

Recovery time. The patient is wheeled to the proper recovery area; the infrared/ radiofrequency sensors detect the patient’s arrival and remove the patient name from all monitors but those in recovery and the front desk. A PACU nurse assigned to care for the patient is alerted to his arrival via the e-greaseboard. The badge is removed at discharge and disassociated with the patient.