Healthcare Equipment Tracking: The Backbone of Smooth Healthcare Operations 

Healthcare units perform highly critical operations that impact human lives. Access to well-performing equipment can make a significant difference in providing quality patient care for these units. That’s where healthcare equipment tracking comes into play!

It enables healthcare staff to quickly locate medical devices, such as ventilators and infusion pumps, during emergencies. So, why risk lives due to unavailable equipment? Rehabs, clinics, and EMS centers can monitor different types of medical equipment using modern SaaS-based tools, such as a healthcare equipment tracking system. 

Let’s review some of the basics of healthcare equipment tracking and discuss how an asset tracking system can improve the quality of your medical operations. 

What is healthcare equipment tracking?

Healthcare equipment tracking is a simple yet effective strategy. It enables healthcare units to track and monitor healthcare assets to meet operational needs regularly. Systematic tracking helps develop better asset control and saves medical staff time searching for the required assets. 

Not only this, but regular tracking helps optimize the use of medical assets by putting them to their best use. Here are a few items that you can track using a healthcare asset tracking system:

Healthcare asset tracking can be best achieved with tracking technologies like barcodes and QR Codes. Barcode asset tracking helps determine the exact location of medical assets and enables you to take actions on them, such as checking them in or out. This way, medical staff can manage various medical assets without switching between systems. 

Challenges in healthcare asset tracking

Inefficient and inaccurate healthcare asset tracking can lead to potential issues for clinics and EMS centers. One primary reason for these issues is the use of manual systems, which leads to data fragmentation and loss. Some challenges medical units face due to this include:

1. Frequent equipment misplacement 

Medical units are more prone to losing equipment without a proper system and equipment tags. Anyone can walk away with critical equipment (particularly disposable items) that can waste clinical funds and delay operations. 

Some items, such as wheelchairs and monitors, are frequently moved around a facility. These items can be misplaced without proper tagging and tracking, as there is no record to refer to for cross-checking. 

2. Inaccurate location information

The inability to track items’ real-time location can lead to potential data inaccuracies. Most healthcare facilities continue to rely on manual data recording methods. If a new medical device is procured or an existing one is sent to a different facility, its location will remain untracked. Updating the manual records repeatedly is time-consuming and frustrating. 

Inaccurate location data wastes staff time looking for a device when needed and can even delay emergency response time. 

3. Scattered medical device data

Recording data using spreadsheets or multiple platforms can hamper the management of different types of data. Multiple staff members cannot cross-collaborate to access the most updated information. For instance, if the recent location of ventilators is not updated on time, the emergency unit of a large clinic will not be able to access the ventilators, leading to delays in patient care. 

Fragmented medical data slows healthcare operations and makes it difficult for the medical staff to perform up to the mark.

4. Unexpected equipment downtime

It’s difficult to know if an asset is performing well if it is not inspected regularly. Recording the inspection data is vital so that a medical asset’s condition can be tracked periodically. Your medical asset will likely experience unexpected breakdowns if you are unaware of its condition. These sudden halts can severely damage the function of a healthcare facility. 

Imagine an X-ray machine suddenly breaking down while a long queue of patients waits to be tested. Such an incident would disrupt the flow of operations. 

Benefits of medical device tracking

Medical asset tracking, if done with the help of medical asset management software, can help facilities significantly reduce costs and improve operations. According to a study, nurses spend 20 minutes per shift finding mobile medical devices. One primary reason is the overreliance on manual and outdated systems, which hinder timely equipment tracking. 

Here’s how you can improve the quality of your healthcare operations with careful medical device tracking: 

1. Quality patient care

Any healthcare facility prioritizes top-notch patient care. Equipment availability supports facilities in meeting patients’ needs. The ability to quickly retrieve medical essentials, such as gloves, defibrillators, oxygen pumps, etc., gives confidence to the medical staff and makes it easier for them to perform everyday tasks. 

Keeping the equipment well-tracked also reduces the chances of loss and unavailability. This way, the staff knows when and where medical equipment is readily available for emergencies. 

2. Balanced equipment supply

One of the most vital aspects of smooth medical operations is the constant supply of medical items. This includes having access to enough backup devices in case any on-premise device breaks down suddenly and keeping the inventory supply in check. With asset tracking, you can avoid the chances of unequal resource distribution across several medical departments. Not only this, but you can ensure a constant supply of items during mass casualty events and keep the operations running–all you need to do is click to check where the backup ventilators are! 

Likewise, medical staff can book the equipment in advance for an operation to avoid mishaps. With sufficient equipment, it becomes easier to manage multiple medical procedures simultaneously. 

3. Increased equipment maintenance

Maintaining medical assets to their fullest potential is the way to keep them running for prolonged periods. Clinics are vulnerable places prone to diseases and infections. You can reuse and keep your medical devices constantly running by sending them for regular service. You can log maintenance histories, send maintenance checklists with every piece of equipment, and assess the state of your equipment after each use. 

Medical device maintenance helps healthcare providers eliminate the spread of diseases with sterilized tools or equipment and fosters a safe environment. 

4. Automated data collection 

If you use multiple platforms for asset tracking other than a cloud-based tracking system, you can integrate them for faster healthcare equipment management. This includes integrating with help-desk platforms, such as Zendesk and Jira, to manage requests for medical equipment. You can easily track service tickets for equipment in no time!

You can also keep a history of maintenance sessions to see how often an asset has been repaired and what repairs were made. 

5 top ways to track medical equipment

While there are different methods for tracking medical equipment, one of the most reliable ones is using a healthcare equipment tracking system. The global market for healthcare asset management is projected to reach a whopping US$11,002.5 million in 2019 from US$215,133.5 million in 2032, recording a CAGR of 24.5%. 

Let’s help you understand how you can be a part of this growing market by tracking your medical equipment:

1. Build a repository

The first and most critical step in tracking assets is building a comprehensive asset register. This register helps reflect the count and state of all medical assets and can be updated periodically. 

The repository serves as the foundation for your asset database. Automate asset management by consolidating all medical device information into a single platform and take actions faster than ever! 

2. Identify and tag the assets.

Categorize assets into groups as soon as they are procured to identify and retrieve them when needed quickly. Tag assets using barcodes or QR Codes so the codes can be scanned while checking medical assets in or out. Barcodes and QR Codes can store information up to 7000 characters, so details, such as asset name, procurement date, model numbers, and more, can be stored easily. 

You can also assign each medical asset an asset identification number (AIN) to identify them uniquely. This way, your medical staff can quickly use the AIN or barcode to retrieve asset information. 

3. Set maintenance schedules

You can schedule maintenance sessions for your medical assets for streamlined asset lifecycle management (ALM). ALM includes tracking the life of a medical asset right from the time of its procurement to disposal. With the help of your asset repository, you can track the stage of each asset’s life and assess if it needs immediate servicing. 

Reserve the asset for maintenance so that clinical operations are not impacted. Enable alerts and notifications so that the asset is immediately made unavailable for further use when maintenance is due. 

4. Train medical staff

Training your medical staff to use a healthcare equipment management system helps reduce administrative hurdles while looking for an asset. The staff can be taught to locate, check in/out, reserve, and return medical assets when needed. Similarly, creating asset labels is vital to asset tracking; the procurement staff must be well-versed in generating these tags from the system for smooth asset deployment. 

Training includes onboarding sessions, live demonstrations, and scenario-based explanations for enhanced learning. You can also do role-based training, for instance:

• Nurses and Technicians: Focus on locating and updating the status of assets during daily operations.
• Biomedical Engineers: Train on logging maintenance updates and using the platform for predictive maintenance.
• Administrators: Cover generating reports, managing permissions, and auditing assets.

5. Create reports 

Data analysis is a much-needed step in healthcare asset tracking. It involves conducting a thorough data analysis to assess the performance of assets. Creating reports is an efficient way to consolidate medical data. You can even chalk out your clinical expenditures based on these reports rather than guesswork. 

Filter data based on various reports and create graphs to show information in an easily digestible format. 

Minimize risks and transform operations with medical equipment tracking

Patient care needs to be 24/7 – without any compromises. However, all medical assets must be managed to maximize their use to ensure patients receive a meaningful service. 

Healthcare equipment tracking software helps achieve this and more. It increases transparency in asset handling procedural and regulatory compliance and minimizes time wastage. Healthcare units cannot risk a patient’s life, so streamlining healthcare asset management is vital to protecting equipment and safeguarding patients from avoidable risks.