Enterprise RTLS at Atrium Health Wake Forest
Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist implemented a system-wide temperature management program using CenTrak RTLS wireless sensors and new procedures to automate and improve the monitoring of over 700 refrigeration units, reducing manual labor by over 10,000 staff hours annually, enhancing compliance, and ensuring the safety of pharmaceutical, nutrition, and research refrigerated contents across multiple campuses.
Environmental Monitoring at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist
The Issue
Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist needed a more efficient and effective way to monitor and manage temperatures of their pharmaceutical, nutrition, and research refrigeration equipment. Staff were spending significant time manually checking the temperature of refrigeration units to meet regulatory requirements, resulting in over 10,000 staff hours annually and costing $300,000 per year. The manual process was inconsistent, time-consuming, and raised concerns about validity and accuracy. The organization spans multiple buildings and campuses, making the task of locating and checking over 700 refrigerators a logistical challenge. Staff identified this duty as a major interruption to patient care and expressed that removing it would improve their workdays. The office of Enterprise Visibility (EV) was tasked with finding a solution that leveraged existing infrastructure, improved compliance, reduced staff burden, and ensured the safety of refrigerated contents.
The Solution
The chosen solution was to leverage the existing CenTrak RTLS infrastructure by adding real-time wireless temperature sensors for a system-wide temperature management program. The approach included:
- Developing a new standard operating procedure covering testing, calibration, installation, monitoring, compliance logging, documentation, reporting, downtime, and maintenance.
- Certifying and installing temperature probes and tags in refrigeration units, and configuring software for appropriate compliance ranges.
- Identifying and cataloging all refrigeration units, repairing or replacing those not up to standard.
- Implementing an automated alert process with escalation paths based on severity, content type, and duration of temperature malfunctions.
A pilot compared the new process to the existing one, confirming the accuracy of the new solution. After successful validation, the solution was deployed across all refrigeration units, including those in research labs. The system now monitors over 1,000 temperature units.
Total Solution ROI
- $970K annual labor savings by automating temperature monitoring
- 100 at-risk refrigeration units identified
- $1.2M+ saved in refrigeration contents (blood, vaccines, etc.)
The Impact
The impact was immediate:
- Compliance soared to nearly 100% within days of go-live.
- The system received high praise from regulatory bodies for its documentation and ease of use.
- Care providers gained 10,000 extra hours annually for patient care.
- Automatic temperature readings every 10 minutes ensured accurate and complete documentation.
- 24/7 monitoring, including in unstaffed locations.
- Instant notifications enabled early alerting and quick response.
- Electronic corrective action logs facilitated regulatory reviews.
- Significant savings were realized by preventing spoilage; for example, 6,000 doses of flu vaccine valued at $90,000 were saved in one incident.
- About 8% of refrigeration units were found to be inadequate and replaced immediately.
The automated temperature management solution resulted in an efficient, effective, and streamlined process, allowing care providers to focus on delivering the ultimate patient experience at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist.
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