How We Used Beacon Software to Help our Client Save Lives
For 25 years, Special Care Providers (SCP) units at hospitals across the country have worked tirelessly to care for catastrophically ill patients, nurture strong relationships with patients and their families, and above all, save thousands of lives per year.
But SCP faces certain challenges. Their patient population often has poor outcomes, their care is expensive, their length of stay is quite long and readmissions are frequent.
SCP wanted to find a way to fix this. They needed a partner, and an innovative solution to improve care and quality of life for their patients.
Enter Centric: A Beacon Technology Solution to Improve Patient Care
SCP sought help from Centric Consulting’s Miami office, which developed technology to improve data analysis and insights into clinic staff movements within acute care facilities. Over the course of a year, we found a way, together with the client, to blend technology with “high touch” multidisciplinary patient care.
The solution: BlueBeak beacon software, an Internet of Things (IoT) sensor technology framework that gathers signals and data from battery-powered Bluetooth beacons installed in Special Care Providers’ facilities.
Clinic staff carry a small ID badge that includes a wireless beacon sensor. The beacon sensor operates on very low battery power and creates a wireless connection with nearby beacon readers installed at the facility.
As clinic staff visit patients and move throughout the facility, Special Care Providers can access the dashboard to view patient visit history, ensure compliance with foam in/out procedures for patient safety, and monitor staff location and data analytics to determine where clinicians and staff are providing the most significant impacts to patients. By tracking staff activity, the SCP can now encourage and reward staff for more “high-touch” patient care time and establish a better cadence of check-ups with the patients.
“Physicians intuitively know that multidisciplinary care improves outcomes, but this project reinforces that feeling,” said Marcie Stoshak-Chavez, MD, National Healthcare Practice Leader at Centric. “A data-driven approach combined with a true patient-provider relationship is the key to success.”
