Dana-Farber Cancer Institute announced that it chose Versus Technology's Versus Advantages Real-Time Locating System (RTLS) for patient tracking, room utilization, workflow optimization and reporting in its new Yawkey Center for Cancer Care.

Versus will deploy a pilot system following a request for service that involved several real-time locating system technologies and providers. Versus specializes in real-time location systems for healthcare. It’s widely used for enterprise patient tracking, bed management, asset tracking, and nurse call automation.

Versus Advantages will be implemented for real-time location of patients, staff and equipment as well as workflow automation throughout the clinics on the 9th and 10th floors of the 275,000 sq. ft. Yawkey Center. The new Yawkey Center for Cancer Care has opened on January 30, 2011.

The company conducted the pilot project in Dana-Farber's current adult cancer clinic, which sees an average of 200 patients per day. Dana-Farber's objective included locating to the chair level. Versus utilizes digital Infrared (IR) signals, which helps the signal reception area to be focused to inches in order to determine location at no additional cost.

“Locating to chair level provides tremendous value to organizations that are struggling with capacity management or that offer specialized services like dialysis or infusion therapy—where a patient doesn't need to be in an exam room,” said Paul Timmerman, VP, Versus, in a statement. “In Dana-Farber's case, they will be using Versus to monitor infusion therapy patients and to capture treatment times and interactions with providers. We'll also alert staff to check on patients at pre-determined intervals.”

Versus Advantages combines rules-based viewing, reporting and automation software with IR locating and radio frequency (RFID) badge status. Versus Advantage enables the Cancer Institute to capture the patient's location, stage of care and alert staff or visit intervals or a patient's wait time, according to company officials. The hospital staff can find patient information on the Versus Glance-and-Go electronic displays to facilitate communication exchange.

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