What do you call the tracking device nurses sometimes wear?

[klone]

It's an oval plastic thing that clips to your scrub top and it's able to track where nurses are? Is there a trade name for them or are they called something?

[djh123]

A la '1984' and several other novels. Picture a nurse on the toilet with one of these devices, and from a speaker above, "Number 37, you have exceeded Potty Protocol Time".

[Wrench Party]

One place we use Vocera, another place we use the Cisco phones and Hill Rom locators. Personally I prefer the Cisco phones and GPS locators; I find it less interruptive to patient care. The intelligent HUCs will use the trackers to our advantage; they can reassure the patients that we are rounding and can figure out by location and time if we have a decent shot at getting to that patient soon.

[marienm, RN, CCRN]

My hospital uses AeroScout tags on equipment and Voceras on people. Our equipment department has the software that can locate the AeroScout tags within the hospital, so when we call and say we need a bladder-scanner (or whatever) they can tell where one is and go get it. Vocera also includes location data (no idea if it records it or just broadcasts it on request) so I can say "Locate Jim Smith" and it will say "Jim Smith is near 53467"--the maintenance code for the nearest room--but all that voice-activated stuff is probably overkill for you and the batteries don't last very long.

[la_chica_suerte85, BSN, RN]

Is it bad that, as a nursing assistant, I thought they were spiffy? If a call light was pushed and I didn't quite have time to get into the room and I was walking in that direction, I could see the "N" lit up and knew someone was there before I was. If I couldn't find the nurse I needed, I could look on the monitor at the UA desk and see what room they were in and call them on the intercom in the room if it was urgent. Was it necessary, though? No, we had Polycoms, too (that got hot like a mfer -- where I work now they have them and they don't radiate cancer heat like those bad boys did -- weird) so there was always some way to get a hold of someone (the Polycoms are more irksome though -- can't use them in an iso room and they always ring when you walk into your sleeping infant patient's room ). I think it was just a locator badge. The brand was Hill-Rom, too. It should be called a nurse lowjack badge....

[mushyrn, BSN, RN]

I can't believe people actually wear these at work. This is a ridiculous concept. So professional our employers have to keep tracking leashes on us. Good lord.

Edit: I would NEVER wear one. Nope.

[CardiacDork, MSN, RN]

I think those are vocera. We use iPhones given by the hospital.

[klone, MSN, RN]

I think those are vocera.

Again, not a Vocera. A vocera is more like a walkie-talkie.

[ClaraRedheart, BSN, RN]

Thanks. I'm looking at them to attach to our portable ultrasound machines, which often get "borrowed," not for our nurses.

It's not a Vocera.

So, for those of you who use them, I'm just looking for brands for my research, not editorial opinions on the devices themselves. Hill-Rom is helpful. I just don't know what they're called.

That is a good idea and way to keep track of equipment! We need little ones for bottles of Levemir on our unit as well since it always seems to disappear.

[SurgicalTechCST]

The last hospital I worked at had them, and they were primarily used to locate a particular nurse when their patient was on the call bell, so they could call into the right room. The one place they did NOT alert to was the bathrooms! It was something they actively decided against doing when it was first implemented, because it was seen as an invasion of privacy by just about everyone, including the "Higher Ups," so they did not have receiving units installed in the bathrooms.

I didn't mind them too much, because I worked as a Scrub Tech in the C-section ORs of the L&D/High Risk Maternity unit, and if someone needed to find me for a STAT section and I was putting away supplies in one of four supply rooms, unloading them in the supply delivery area, helping someone on the unit stock their rooms, or I was back stocking shelves, blanket warmers and cabinets in any of the three operating rooms, they knew where to find me! It didn't really strike me as being "Big Brother-ish" because if somebody wanted to find me for a legitimate purpose, then it was either going to involve sending staff around physically to track me down, or it only involved the Unit Secretary or one of the nurses looking at the tracker board for my ID. Either way, the job got done, and this was the most efficient way to go about it.

[canigraduate]

The two kinds I have worked with are the Versus Visibility Companion and Hill-Rom Staff Locating.

Here's a definition from http://www.centrak.com:

[h=1]What is RTLS?[/h]

Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS) provide immediate or real-time tracking and management of medical equipment, staff and patients. This type of solution enables healthcare facilities to capture workflow efficiencies, reduce costs, and increase clinical quality. RTLS solutions are comprised of various tags and badges, platforms (Wi-Fi, Infrared, Ultrasound, and others), hardware infrastructure (readers & exciters) and other components (servers, middleware & end-user software).Typically, an RTLS solution consists of specialized fixed location sensors receiving wireless signals from small ID badges or tags attached to equipment or persons. Each tag transmits its own unique ID in real time, and depending on the technology chosen, the system locates the tags and therefore the location of the tagged entities. Depending on the solution, varying degrees of granularity can be achieved. Basic RTLS solutions can enable tracking in a hospital's unit or floor, whereas clinical-grade systems are able to achieve room, bed, bay, and even shelf-level tracking.

[AtLeastMyDogLovesMe]

Wow, I could never work somewhere that made us wear something like that.

If you're required to carry a phone then you already do. If you're like me however, you ignore it. :)

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

I work with our Supply Chain Management folks - they refer to this (RFID locators on equipment) as "Asset Management Systems". We're starting to include this in most of new mobile equipment contracts. It's wonderful to have a better way to locate IV pumps, gurneys, wheelchairs and such .... hunting and gathering is too time consuming.

Some of our facilities have "nurse locator" systems. This information has proven to be valuable also.... like the time a family complained that nurses "never even came into the room". We had data that clearly indicated how many times each staff member had entered the room - and they were exceeding our hourly rounding standards.

Technology is not all bad