[Patient tracking with beacon technology : Pilot project in a radiological practice]

Waiting times are still assumed to be unavoidable in medicine. However, waiting time is an essential factor of patient satisfaction. Because patient expectations are increasing, medical institutions should address the issue. Above all, this requires transparency about the current processes in the facilities. Conventional information systems often do not offer sufficient solutions to ensure this in real time combined with helpful visualization. In a pilot project in a radiological practice, the use of a patient tracking system based on beacon technology was tested. The aim was to track the actual location of the patients in the practice, to determine the patient status (e.g. patient waiting) and to display the entire processes on a smart dashboard. The successful pilot project has shown that the technology meets all requirements, that patients accept the system and that staff are familiar with the new processes after some time. For the first time, patient flows, including waiting times, were displayed clearly and in real time on a dashboard. This made it possible to control processes and waiting times that had previously never been recorded in a structured manner and were usually only recognized in the event of complaints. From a technical point of view, the system is arbitrarily scalable, whereby the connection to different information systems will be a challenge. If this succeeds, however, the possibilities are manifold. The created transparency makes it possible to reduce waiting times and to actively inform patients about waiting times and thus contribute to increasing patient satisfaction.