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An Unusual Use for Ultrasound


August 2007
Many hospitals use tracking systems that rely on radio frequency or Wi-Fi signals that transmit equipment location data to a back-end system. Seton Medical Center, however, is tracking its equipment via a technology that transmits such information via ultrasound waves.

The 471-bed hospital began researching location systems two years ago, but couldn't find a radio frequency-based application that could track with 100% room-level accuracy, says Jeff Falwell, a senior project consultant for Dell Inc., Round Rock, Texas, who exclusively works at Seton. The ultrasound-based tracking system, from Sonitor Technologies Inc., Largo, Fla., can offer such precision because sound waves don't bleed through walls like radio frequency signals do, he adds.

"Wi-Fi is great for data or voice communication because it bleeds through walls so you don't get as many dead spots. But if you try to locate equipment with it, it bleeds through walls and you get signal bouncing," Falwell explains.

"With sound waves, especially if you shut the door of a patient room, if the system hears something, it's definitely in the room. It will hear anything in a room and not hear anything that's not in the room."

The system uses tags that send ultrasound waves-which are inaudible to humans-to microphones installed in various locations throughout a hospital. The tags communicate the serial number of the item to which they are attached via the sound wave.

The microphones then send the information to the system's server, which matches the serial number to the piece of equipment and displays it on an application. The ultrasound waves don't interfere with other ultrasound technology Seton uses or its Wi-Fi network, he adds.

Since April, the hospital has been attaching the ultrasound tags to various supplies, such as IV pumps, wheelchairs, specialty beds, thermometers and data scopes. The tags are thicker than tags used with other RFID or Wi-Fi-based tracking systems because they contain a speaker. But they can be attached to most items via double-sided tape.

Seton also hired RadiantWave, Nacogdoches, Texas, to help determine how many of the system's microphones should be used. So far, the hospital has implemented 985 in patient rooms, hallways and equipment closets. But it plans to install about six more after finding that some equipment was being stored in other locations, such as the nurses' break room.

This fall, Seton plans to begin tracking patients with its ultrasound-based system, Falwell says. The hospital is working with the vendor to develop new tags that can be put on a patient's wristband. While the original tags can last for three to five years, the customized ones will have a shorter battery life, he adds.

"After we implemented the ultrasound system, people began finding things they wanted to track that we hadn't planned on tracking," Falwell says. "Now managing all of the requests to use it has become a bigger issue than finding equipment."

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