Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2012 Jun 28:11:25.
doi: 10.1186/1476-072X-11-25.

Real-time locating systems (RTLS) in healthcare: a condensed primer

Maged N Kamel Boulos  1 , Geoff Berry
Affiliations
Review

Real-time locating systems (RTLS) in healthcare: a condensed primer

Maged N Kamel Boulos et al. Int J Health Geogr. .

Abstract

Real-time locating systems (RTLS, also known as real-time location systems) have become an important component of many existing ubiquitous location aware systems. While GPS (global positioning system) has been quite successful as an outdoor real-time locating solution, it fails to repeat this success indoors. A number of RTLS technologies have been used to solve indoor tracking problems. The ability to accurately track the location of assets and individuals indoors has many applications in healthcare. This paper provides a condensed primer of RTLS in healthcare, briefly covering the many options and technologies that are involved, as well as the various possible applications of RTLS in healthcare facilities and their potential benefits, including capital expenditure reduction and workflow and patient throughput improvements. The key to a successful RTLS deployment lies in picking the right RTLS option(s) and solution(s) for the application(s) or problem(s) at hand. Where this application-technology match has not been carefully thought of, any technology will be doomed to failure or to achieving less than optimal results.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Basic components of an RTLS (modified from[1]).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Malik A. RTLS For Dummies. Wiley Publishing, Inc, Indianapolis, Indiana; 2009. http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-047039868X.html.
    1. International Organization for Standardization. Information technology -- Real-time locating systems (RTLS) -- Part 1: Application program interface (API). ISO/IEC 24730–1:2006. Geneva, Switzerland; 2006. http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?c....
    1. Krohn R. The optimal RTLS solution for hospitals. Breaking through a complex environment. J Healthc Inf Manag. 2008;22(4):14–15. http://www.himss.org/content/files/5_Krohn.pdf. - PubMed
    1. Dimond D. The optimal RTLS solution for hospitals. J Healthc Inf Manag. 2009;23(2):4–5. http://www.himss.org/content/files/jhim/23-2/JHIM_Spring_2LetterEditor.pdf. - PubMed
    1. Drazen E, Rhoads J. Using tracking tools to improve patient flow in hospitals. Issue brief. California HealthCare Foundation, ; 2011. http://www.chcf.org/~/media/MEDIA%20LIBRARY%20Files/PDF/U/PDF%20UsingPat....