Real-time, location-based patient-device association management: Design and proof of concept

Background: Hospitals need to accurately manage mobile devices (e.g., intravenous pumps) associated to their patients and health providers to ensure patient safety. Some hospitals have already invested substantially in real-time location system (RTLS) technology, a specific type of Internet of Things (IoT) application for indoor positioning, to manage mobile clinical devices. Objective: This paper investigates the reuse of RTLS systems to monitor patients and their assigned devices and to manage their connectivity automatically, in real time. Method: A system called Real-time Patient-Device Association and Disassociation (RPDAD) is designed, implemented, and tested in a hospital room and in a university laboratory. Results: RPDAD helps manage patient-device associations through a tablet application, with accurate suggestions for closest devices and automated detection of unexpected disassociations, resulting in real-time alerts. Conclusion: RPDAD offers a usable means of managing associations that does not depend on bar-coding technologies. It also helps amortize investments in RTLS.