According to a study by researchers at the School of Public Health and Health Services at George Washington University (PDF), the budget sequester may force nearly a million new patients to the nation’s Emergency Departments (EDs).

This is due to a $120 million cut to community health centers.

A new report from HIMSS Analytics titled "Strong Growth in Bed Management IT Applications" identifies hospital bed management as a “hot” software market in the nation.

The Spring 2013 edition of Essentials of the US Hospital IT Market reports that operational-related functions, such as contract management, benefits administration and materials management, and bed management applications have a five-year historical growth rate far exceeding those of all other applications profiled in the edition.

The May issue of HealthLeaders Magazine features a timely and interesting article entitled, How to Get a Handle on ED Overcrowding.

In it, Deborah Kaczynski, MS, of University of Pittsburgh Medical (UPMC), a 20-hospital system in western Pennsylvania and a perennial member of the U.S. News and World Report honor roll of best U.S. hospitals, discusses ED overcrowding as a hospital-wide problem. Kaczynski, who works on the system’s patient flow initiatives and is a faculty member for the independent, non-profit Institute for Healthcare Improvement, emphasizes that improving patient flow means addressing the needs of other hospital units – from surgery to housekeeping – that are impacted by what happens in the emergency department.

A recent article in USA Today titled Hospitals lose $8.3 billion using old technology said doctors and hospitals are “in the digital dark ages” when it comes to Internet and mobile technology. Author Byron Achohido based that assessment on a study done by Ponemon Institute and sponsored by tech security firm Imprivata.

According to the study, because of this hospitals lose over $3 billion a year just in wasted time involving the discharge process. The cause is the continued use of “clunky communications systems as part of the process”.

All of us at TeleTracking Technologies are pleased to welcome former Joint Commission executive Nanne Finis, RN, MS, as our new vice president of consulting services.

(Here's a link to the formal announcement, Former Joint Commission Executive to Lead TeleTracking Consulting Services.)

Joanne Fuell RN, BSc, manager of patient placement and central transport at Lakeland Regional Medical Center, offers four keys to moving patients in and out of the Emergency Department as quickly as possible, thereby cutting Left Without Being Seen (LWBS) to zero.

Fuell detailed in Becker’s Hospital Review the recent changes which have made the Florida hospital’s ED more efficient. More specifically,

This is “Healthcare Technology Management Week,” a time to recognize the people behind the scenes who keep our hospitals running.

These are the biomedical equipment technicians (BMETs), clinical engineers, and other healthcare technology professionals responsible for servicing, maintaining, and managing healthcare technologies for hospitals and other healthcare facilities, manufacturers, and third-party service organizations around the world.

In RTLS: Location is just the beginning, published in the April 2013 issue of Healthcare Purchasing News, Jon Poshywak, managing director, RTLS Workflow Services, TeleTracking Technologies, says that "realizing the greatest return on an RTLS investment requires a more holistic view of asset management in the broader context of hospital operations and patient flow - sometimes referred to as Real-Time Capacity Management."

The caller was almost frantic.

“I need an IV pump …now,” she screamed.

Becky Brown, Director of Information Technology at Unity Point Health (Methodist, Peoria), was certain that there was a pump in the room where the nurse placed the call. After all, it said so on the TeleTracking floor plan screen Becky was looking at, and that system tracks items and people down to precise room level.

“With some of the other systems,” Becky says, “you can get close, but it’s not real time.”

Are You a “Super Nurse?” We think you might be.

National Nurses Week (May 5 – 11) celebrates the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the very first “Super Nurse.” 

TeleTracking once again is commemorating the celebration with another Free Super RN T-Shirt Give-Away! Won't you take part?