What is the primary question the word ‘workflow’ is meant to answer for an organization?

For ZulaFly, that question goes something like this: Where are people or things spending time?

As we design our RTLS product for the healthcare realm, we believe workflow is associated with getting a better understanding of where patients are, have been, and if they’re getting through the system efficiently. But there’s more…

For staff members, the ability to understand natural workflows and being able to analyze that data, allows anyone to understand how long someone spent in a certain area performing certain tasks.

From shift start to shift finish, where are staff spending their time and is it an efficient use of their limited time? A system like ZulaFly’s Fuzion metaphorically serves like a track coach’s stopwatch, indicating how efficiently the race was run from start to finish. At that point, improvements can be made to create tighter efficiencies if needed.

We’ve covered patient workflow in other articles on ZulaFly.com, but how does workflow answer other pertinent questions within your organization? Here are a few examples below:

HOW MUCH TIME ARE STAFF SPENDING WITH RESIDENTS IN AREAS OF CARE?

In the senior living and nursing home facility realm, Fuzion tracks how long residents are being cared for. Knowing this information helps management ensure that staff members are minimizing distractions and paying attention to their most important priorities.

How many trips are staff making to medication and supply areas? Are they located in correct and efficient places?

When time spent with residents or patients is an important aspect of your facility, running back and forth to fetch supplies and medication can create a major strain on the critical interactions between patient/resident and provider. Do more supplies need to be purchased? Should medication be stocked in two areas instead of one? Fuzion provides data that helps generate these important decisions.

WHERE ARE STAFF SPENDING TIME DURING SHIFTS? ARE THEY NEEDING TO COVER AREAS TO HELP DELIVER CARE?

Knowing the answers to these questions can lead to better resource scheduling when you understand where the issues are. In any healthcare facility, the balance of attention can often shift from one area to another over time. As patients or residents are shifted in and out of rooms, Fuzion provides the reports and trends that help you remain more proactive, ensuring the highest concentration of staff care remains in areas where needs are greatest.

HOW CAN WE ENSURE ‘OTHER’ IMPORTANT TASKS ARE BEING COMPLETED?

Throughout any healthcare facility, there are a number of tasks that RTLS ensures are being executed up to standard (door lock checks, for example). Setting up workflows ensure these tasks are done properly.

Tasks and workflow can vary from facility to facility. Fuzion is built with the type of customization that ensures your workflows can be set up, tracked, and managed just the way you need them.

HOW CAN WE AVOID EVENTS OF DIRTY OR RECALLED EQUIPMENT ENTERING A RESIDENT ROOM?

Cleanliness is toward the top of the list when it comes to operational procedures that need to be proactively managed. When dirty equipment enters a room, resident health is being unnecessarily exposed to risk.

Additionally, recalled or broken equipment can inadvertently be used in the presence of residents. Between false or inaccurate readings and time wasted looking for an asset that simply works, both resident and patient can deal with avoidable frustration. Workflows can be set up that create a notification when dirty or recalled equipment has entered a resident room.

REAL-TIME RTLS DATA CREATES HEALTHCARE EFFICIENCY

The benefits of using real-time data can do so much more than create workflow benefits for a patient. As noted, ZulaFly’s Fuzion RTLS is an example of how an organization can, from top to bottom, experience benefits by leveraging the Fuzion workflow engine to realize more holistic results.

Ultimately, patients and staff win whenever workflow is maximized.