New technology to speed response times
Tuesday 20th April 2010
Leading Canadian Hospital Uses Ekahau Badge Tags and Wi-Fi-based Location Tracking Technology to Speed Response Times When Staff Need Assistance
Performance leader in Wi-Fi-based Real Time Location Systems Ekahau will join forces with ICT solution provider and system integrator Bell Canada to deliver an innovative solution that enables faster response times when patients or staff need assistance. It works by pinpointing their location using the Ekahau T301BD pager tags worn by hospital staff in the hospital's mental health facility.
The Ekahau tags are part of the Ekahau RTLS solution, an enterprise-grade location tracking platform used today by many leading hospitals around the world. Ekahau RTLS leverages a hospital's existing Wi-Fi network to locate small battery-powered tags anywhere within the footprint of the network within a matter of seconds.
"At the CSSS de St-Jérôme, we have a strong belief that cutting-edge technologies can help us improve patient and staff care, increase efficiency and ensure the safety of everyone at our facilities, and we are continuing to seek innovations to support these goals," said Sylvain Leclerc, coordinator of IT services and telecommunications at the CSSS de St-Jérôme. "Our ICT solution provider and system integrator Bell Canada found the right technology to meet our requirements through Ekahau. The Ekahau RTLS and its badge tags, which offer two-way communications, are an ideal fit for our innovation strategy, allowing us to leverage our existing Wi-Fi network for advanced location tracking applications."
Ekahau RTLS is the only Wi-Fi-based location tracking solution that can operate over any Wi-Fi network, regardless of brand or generation. Because it is standards-based, Ekahau RTLS can be quickly deployed in a matter of days or weeks, eliminating the expense and time required by other systems to install readers, cabling, choke points and exciters. Ekahau RTLS provides the best accuracy in the industry, enabling users to pinpoint location down to the sub-room level.
The Ekahau T301BD Wi-Fi pager tags are capable of supporting two-way communications, enabling users to send and receive text messages. The units also include a dedicated button, which can be triggered in the event of an emergency, to alert staff of the situation and to show them where it is happening.
"Patient and staff safety is a challenge for the healthcare industry that can be addressed with leading-edge technology, such as RTLS," said Bernard Barbeau, healthcare sales director for Bell Business Markets. "Our partnership with Ekahau allows us to deliver a truly innovative and reliable enterprise-grade RTLS solution to Bell healthcare customers such as St-Jérôme."
The Ekahau RTLS system installed at the CSSS de St-Jérôme is used by hospital employees to call for help in emergency situations, such as "code white" situations in which a staff member is in danger. Once an individual pulls on the panic switch on the tag, the tag signals an alert through the wireless network to an Ekahau server that calculates the location of the alert and broadcasts it to the other team members through text messaging, and to other systems and devices in the hospital.
"We are pleased to be working with Bell Canada for the CSSS de St-Jérôme on an application that enhances patient care and provides for greater staff safety throughout the entire facility," said Tuomo Rutanen, senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing and Business Development for Ekahau. "Ekahau's tags and superior location accuracy combine to deliver a state-of-the-art safety solution for health care facilities around the world."
