Challenge

This project at AZ Oostende focuses on the automatic registration of patient movements in the emergency department. By attaching tags to patients, they can be tracked in real-time through various stages of their care pathway in the emergency department. This provides insight into the exact course of their treatment and ensures that the patient is safely tracked during treatment. It also helps identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies in the process.

Currently, registration is done manually, but due to the hectic nature of the emergency department, the quality of registrations is not always optimal and incomplete. In addition, especially in emergency departments, we want to minimise the administrative burden on healthcare providers and ensure that time can be used optimally for proper treatment and warm patient contact.

The use of tracking technology makes it possible to reduce waiting times, better organise patient flows and inform medical teams of patients' status in a timely manner. Automatic notifications, for example, can alert doctors and nurses when a patient stays too long in a certain stage. It also offers opportunities in data collection and analysis. By recognising trends and patterns, hospitals can further optimise. This approach offers potential for faster throughput, better resource planning and higher quality of care for patients in emergency departments.