Technology Overview

What is RTLS? How does it work? Find out here

Discover healthcare’s most advanced real-time locating system. As a clinical location, automation and awareness tool, Versus supports the work you do with patients. Find out how.

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What is RTLS?

Just what is a real-time locating system? Think of RTLS as GPS for the indoors—a system that displays the real-time locations of people and things on a floor plan of a building, or in a list. Versus combines location information with sophisticated rules-based software to also automate workflows, reducing data entry.

How Does RTLS Work?

Different real-time locating systems use different technologies. At Versus, we use the most precise locating technology available in healthcare—a combination of safe Infrared (IR) and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). Learn more with the following graphic and descriptions at right.

The IR Advantage Low-power RFID
IR-RFID Badges and Tags
Wired or Wireless Sensors
Enterprise View™ Floorplan Enterprise View™ List
Enterprise View™ Dashboard Reports Plus™ Analytics

Click the numbered areas above for more information. ▲

 

1.

IR-RFID Badges & Tags

Badges, worn by people, and tags, affixed to equipment, emit safe, low-powered Infrared (IR) and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) signals.
   

2.

The IR Advantage

IR is a form of invisible light bound by walls. Together with focused sensors, IR provides the accuracy necessary to precisely locate people and assets.
   

3.

Low-Power RFID

The RFID signal travels through walls to identify the badge’s general location, to carry the call/alert message when the badge button is pressed, and to indicate that the badge is active.
   

4.

Wired or Wireless Sensors

Wired or wireless sensors, discretely mounted in the ceiling, receive badge signals. The IR sensors directly correspond to defined locations and can be tightly focused to create multiple locations in a single room. For example, using multiple focused sensors, Versus can define two locations in a double-bed room, or several locations in a room full of chairs.
   

5-7.

Enterprise View™

Versus displays location information in several formats via our web-based Enterprise View software. With rule sets, our Advantages™ patient flow applications also indicate room status, caregiver assignments and more. Click the images at left for more information.
   

8.

Reports Plus™ Analytics

Behind the real-time visibility that Versus provides lies an enormous amount of data. With our reporting software, that data is at your fingertips, enabling you to continually improve processes, document protocol and help mitigate risk.

Is the Versus RTLS Wired or Wireless?

Both! Our 10th-generation V-Direct™ sensory network platform is a wired system installed in more than 700 healthcare facilities across the nation. Our new V-Link™ platform uses the same accurate IR-RFID technology, but communicates location information wirelessly—without burdening your Wi-Fi network. Both V-Direct and V-Link are installed once (no recalibration required) and require very little ongoing maintenance. Our hardware platforms provide high precision, with low total cost of ownership (TCO), leveraging multiple solutions from one sensory network.

How Does Versus Provide Room-, Bed- and Chair-Level Accuracy?

Unlike other RTLS technologies, the Versus IR/RFID system allows for very precise locating, thanks to the properties of Infrared. Because IR signals cannot penetrate walls, we can easily achieve room-level locating. By focusing IR sensors, we can define smaller, sub-room areas to distinguish two or more locations for bed- or chair-level locating.

accuracy

Why Is Accuracy So Important?

When your RTLS provides highly accurate location information, as only Versus can, you can do more than track assets and patients—you can automate workflows. Thanks to accuracy, our system is scalable. For example, you may wish to start with asset tracking, then utilizing the same RTLS network, expand into par level asset management, patient flow applications, or monitor hand hygiene participation.

Versus captures the locations and interactions of patients, staff and assets. The areas of coverage can be easily focused to unique spaces, based on the types of events the facility intends to automate:

Room Level

  • Automated room status
  • Automated nurse call registry and call cancellation
  • Automated patient visit progression
  • Room turnaround reports
  • Nurse rounding reports

Bed Level

  • Automated bed management
  • Automatic patient to staff assignment
  • Automatic equipment assignment to patient
  • Caregiver interaction /infection control reporting

Chair Level


Particularly important for:

  • Observation units
  • Dialysis patients
  • Infusion therapy patients

Chair-level locating provides treatment time and very precise infection control reporting.

 

Here’s Proof ...
Not Promises

Chair-Level Locating Live at:

Bay/Bed-level Locating Live at:

Plus many, many more