Bed management in hospitals

Many hospitals lack a real-time overview of their most important resource: the hospital bed. Hospital bed management should be able to easily answer the following questions:

• How many available beds are there in total in the hospital, and how many specialist beds (e.g. heavy-duty beds) are available?
• Where exactly are the available beds located?
• What is the hygiene status of each individual bed? (occupied – reprocessed and available – in reprocessing)
• Has the bed been maintained and inspected in accordance with the specifications, and is it in perfect condition?

The HPM® software application uses mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets to record process steps and status changes in real time. Using these devices, staff first scan the QR code attached to the medical device to identify it, and then use simple pull-down menus to enter the current hygiene and/or technical status or status changes (e.g. bed available, bed occupied, bed requiring reprocessing, bed undergoing reprocessing, bed reprocessed, bed with special contamination (germs), bed defective, bed undergoing maintenance).

In combination with BLE real-time tracking, manual input can be eliminated if, for example, the hygiene status can be derived from the respective location (example: a bed in the storage room for clean beds automatically has the status “available”). This information, together with the location of the medical device, can now be accessed instantly by all authorised users on any connected device. And this applies to all medical devices in the hospital that are to be ‘tracked’. This real-time information is crucial to avoiding errors.

Staff resources are utilised more efficiently, as search times are minimised through the real-time tracking of available beds or other medical devices. The availability of expensive hospital assets, such as hospital beds, is optimised through a digitally organised reprocessing and maintenance workflow, leading to sustainable cost savings.

HPM® also provides business analytics that enable improved utilisation of resources in the following areas:

• Bed management
• Nursing staff
• Occupancy management
• Discharge management
• Biomedical engineering and facility management
• Reprocessing and cleaning

HPM® simplifies process documentation. It improves compliance by generating and storing records of reprocessing and cleaning processes for medical devices and rooms. HPM® checks in advance whether the employee has received the required instruction or training to carry out the process. It then documents when, where, by whom and according to which instructions a medical device was reprocessed or a room was cleaned, including the process duration.

With HPM®, CLINARIS combines expertise and experience in hygiene, process management, and IT to sustainably improve workflows in hospitals.

In addition to increasing economic efficiency, the use of HPM® can also provide legal benefits for hospitals. In the event of a lawsuit of a patient, hospitals must be able to proof each step of the reprocessing of medical devices as well as compliance with required hygiene regulations (Keyword: reverse burden of proof). HPM® generates detailed reprocessing documentation, e.g. for hospital beds. This documentation can help to strengthen the hospital´s legal position in such cases.

Furthermore, BLE tracking in HPM® makes it possible to trace which medical devices a patient has been in contact with over a specific period of time. This enables the traceability of (potentially) contaminated devices – even if the patient has already been discharged and the pathogen is only identified retrospectively.

Of all the tracking technologies available, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is the most suitable for bed tracking within bed management.

It can be quickly and easily implemented in hospitals. In many cases, existing Wi-Fi networks can be used, as modern Wi-Fi routers are already equipped with BLE beacons. At the same time as the BLE network is installed, the beds are equipped with beacons (small transmitters / receivers). The BLE beacons used by HPM® are energy-efficient, cost-effective and flexible in use. Built-in motion sensors ensure that location data is only transmitted after movement has occurred. This reduces data traffic and extends the already long battery life of the easily replaceable beacon batteries. The BLE receivers used at specific locations are connected to existing power outlets without blocking them. Alternatively, they are equipped with long-lasting battery packs.

Upon request and depending on the use case, other tracking technologies such as RFID or UWB can also be used. Please feel free to contact us for more information!