Optimizing spatial healthcare assets with Internet of Things

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Health Informatics
• Engineering

Background:

• Physical assets constitute 6% of Australian healthcare costs.
• Current practices lack efficient clinical space utilization measurement for funding decisions.
• Optimizing clinical space can enhance healthcare delivery and reduce costs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and evaluate the use of Internet of Things (IoT) technology for optimizing clinical space utilization.
• To inform decision-makers with evidence-based data for space optimization strategies.
• To reduce healthcare consumer wait times and capital expenditure pressures.

Main Methods:

• Phase one involved a non-clinical trial to evaluate IoT sensor performance.
• Infra-red Tags and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags were previously used to study time in clinics.
• Future phases will involve sensor installation in live public healthcare environments for real-time data collection.

Main Results:

• Preliminary results from phase one indicate a disparity between IoT-sensed occupancy data and the current room reservation system.
• Sensor data provides visualization in a dashboard format for staff decision-making.
• The trial focused on evaluating sensor performance in a controlled, non-clinical setting.

Conclusions:

• IoT technology offers a promising approach to measuring and optimizing clinical space utilization.
• Evidence-based data from IoT sensors can support strategic decision-making in healthcare facility management.
• Further research and implementation in live clinical environments are necessary to validate findings.