title: Sensors keep patients flowing smoothly at surgery center.
abstract: The typical outpatient surgery facility is a hard place to find anything. Staff members make hundreds of phone calls each day to determine where patients are, keep updated on surgeries, and track down specialized equipment. Each time a call is dialed, a colleague on the other end must stop what he or she is doing to answer. The phones in the new 60,000-square-foot surgical suite at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center don't get nearly as heavy a workout because the facility's automatic tracking system displays the location of each patient in real time.
mesh_terms: D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D004581:Electronics / Q000295:instrumentation; D006747:Hospital Communication Systems; D009870:Operating Room Information Systems; D009922:Oregon; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010355:Patient Identification Systems / Q000379:methods*; D010360:Patient Transfer; D013531:Surgicenters / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data