GE Healthcare Developed RFID Solution Tracks Hand-Hygiene Habits and Boosts Compliance by 25% at Summerville Medical Center


FARMINGTON, Conn., April 24, 2013 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- Hand-hygiene standards are critical to both patient and employee health. The path communicable infections take if discovered at a hospital may potentially be traceable down to the micro level: if personnel are practicing good hand-hygiene habits. A hand-hygiene solution developed and provided by GE Healthcare has made it possible to track and share data on whether medical workers are washing their hands often enough.

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Earlier this year in February, South Carolina's Summerville Medical Center installed a new radio frequency identification-based solution to their existing real-time location system (RTLS) to pinpoint when and how often personnel wash their hands. The facility had painstakingly tracked compliance manually prior to the new technology, which uses active RFID and infrared IR tags with passive low-frequency LF 125 kHz tags and readers. The manual way of measuring only resulted in 70 or 80 data points per a month. With the RFID technology in place, the medical center now collects 8,000 data points daily and since integrating the technology, hand-hygiene compliance has improved by 25 percent.

GE's hand-hygiene solution leverages an existing RF Code technology where hospital personnel were provided RTLS badges with built-in IR receivers, MHz active RFID tags, and passive LF tags. When employees proceed to one of the soap or sanitizer dispensers, an LF reader installed at the dispenser reads the unique ID number on the LF chip built into the badge and automatically transmits data through a cabled connection to the AgileTrac software on a back-end server. It's important to note that the data collected is an education tool, not a disciplinary one. The solution's intention is to improve hospital operations with a focus on patient care – and so far it seems to be working!

Solutions like the hand-hygiene pilot study are both products of and contributors to the market research industry. New technology applications materialize after copious amounts of raw research and digesting existing studies. The results of the studies are then organized, studied and packaged into palatable reports, like the ones available on GiiResearch.com, so that other companies can receive these tools of knowledge and bring similar innovation initiatives to their business. Here's a selection of the latest research we have on RFID, RTLS, and M2M technology.

Real-time Location Services (RTLS): Applications, Services and Company Analysis 2013

Real-time Location Services are changing processes and procedures in yards, hospitals, warehouses, factories and any facilities in which location determination and tracking in real-time is crucial. RTLS applications support operational areas for logistics and other services, to combine identity and location of any type of items or objects, allowing for efficient location procedures through automatic determination/tracking with the click of a mouse button.

This report examines RTLS applications in healthcare, manufacturing, retail, and more.

More information about this report and a free sample are available at http://www.giiresearch.com/report/min230881-real-time-location-services-rtls-applications.html

Indoor Location Solutions: How you can deploy or integrate indoor location technology

If you own or manage a commercial site of any sort, you probably have questions about indoor location technology. Can it work in my site? Can it open up new business opportunities? Can it make my business run smoother? Can it bring me new customers? Can it add to my bottom line? And how can I make it work for me?

Answers to these questions are critical for a wide range of industries: stores, shopping malls, hospitals, museums, airports, casinos, offices, exhibition centers, sports stadiums, warehouses, and more - all can benefit from indoor location services.

More information about this report and a free sample are available at http://www.giiresearch.com/report/griz231622-indoor-location-services-what-retail-managers-ctos.html

End-to-End M2M

Everything from traditional telephony and IT operations to ERP, SCM, public safety, homeland security, and beyond is being impacted by machine-to-machine (M2M) communications. This report contains: an analysis of M2M in the cloud, global M2M solutions market analysis, global M2M market forecasts through 2020, analysis of current and emerging M2M applications across various industry verticals including case studies in the medical and healthcare setting, and M2M strategies for mobile network operators.

More information about this report and a free sample are available at http://www.giiresearch.com/report/min223200-end-end-m2m-fifth-edition.html

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) In Healthcare Industry

Global Market Size, Share, Growth, Analysis and Forecast, 2012 – 2018

Identify the factors that will become the driving force behind RFID in the healthcare industry and sub-markets over the next six years. This report provides extensive analysis of the RFID industry, current market trends, industry drivers and challenges for better understanding of the global RFID in healthcare industry.

More information about this report and a free sample are available at http://www.giiresearch.com/report/tsm252713-radio-frequency-identification-rfid-healthcare.html

Find more market research for RFID, RTLS and M2M markets

With nearly 30 years of market research experience, Global Information, Inc (GII) is the single best resource for companies entering new markets, expanding their business, and securing their positions in their respective industries. With tens of thousands of reports from over 400 publishers in nearly every vertical market, our market research and forecast data can give companies the edge they need to stay ahead of the competition and plan for every contingency.

The reports above are just a few examples from the hundreds of research reports we have available for the RTLS, RFID and M2M markets. For a free consultation on the market research you need, contact us today!

About Global Information Inc. Global Information (GII) (http://www.giiresearch.com) is an information service company partnering with over 300 research companies around the world. Global Information has been in the business of distributing technical and market research for more than 25 years. Expanded from its original headquarters in Japan, Global Information now has offices in Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Europe and the United States.

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