Real Time Tracking in Vanderbilt’s NICU

As one of the largest and best neonatal intensive care units in the country, Vanderbilt’s NICU strives for first-rate and family-centered care for their patients. In order to reach these goals, the NICU is comprised of five highly specialized physician teams and is spread across various pods in two different buildings in the hospital campus. This creates a need for a high level of organization and communication by the charge nurses and physician teams.

The charge nurse and representatives of each team meet twice daily to coordinate activities and negotiate the location of the babies. Up to 30 minutes of each meeting is often spent trying to determine the exact locations and needs of certain babies, which is both a safety and efficiency concern.

 

Asset Tracking Technology

The purpose of this project is to integrate a system of asset tracking sensors, designed by AeroScout, to track  babies, providers, and key pieces of equipment throughout the network of pods in the Vanderbilt University Hospital campus.  The data collected will be used to design a display to aid the clinician teams in making decisions about the movement and locations of the babies. At the conclusion of our project, we will have a thorough and extensive Systems Requirement Document detailing a technology that would assist nurses and physicians in efficient operation of the Vanderbilt NICU. We also hope to have a mock design of this system that demonstrates a portion of the System Requirements Document. We believe an electronic map display system will eliminate errors that arise from transcribing on paper, will reduce the time the charge nurses and physicians spend coordinating logistical information, and will allow physicians and nurses to locate each other quickly in times of emergency.