ArticleJournal of biomedical informatics2020
Designing and validating a low-cost real time locating system to continuously assess patient wait times.
Article in Journal of biomedical informatics, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 16 citations in OpenAlex.
- OpenThread as a tool for localization of devices and patients in healthcare systems.International journal of computer assisted radiology and surgery · 2026Article
- Technological advancements and the use of key performance indicators in hospital management: a critical-conceptual review.Frontiers in health services · 2026Review
- Multi-resource allocation and care sequence assignment in patient management: a stochastic programming approach.Health care management science · 2024Article
- The Rise of Passive RFID RTLS Solutions in Industry 5.0.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Advancements in Passive Wireless Sensors, Materials, Devices, and Applications.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Measuring impact of a quality improvement initiative on glaucoma clinic flow using an automated real-time locating system.BMC ophthalmology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveOutpatient clinics lack infrastructure to easily measure and understand patient wait times. Our objective was to design a low-cost, portable passive real time locating system within an outpatient clinic setting to measure patient wait times and patient-provider interactions. MATERIALS AND
methodsDirect observation was used to determine workflow in an outpatient glaucoma clinic at the University of Michigan. We used off-the shelf, antenna-integrated ultra-high frequency (UHF) RFID readers (ThingMagic, Astra-Ex, Woburn, MA) and UHF re-useable passive RFID tags (Zebra Impinj Monza 4QT, Seattle, WA). We designed a custom RFID management application in the Java programming language that was equipped with 'live' device administration to collect time and location data from patients and providers. These hardware choices enabled low cost system installation. Hidden Markov Modeling (HMM) was used to smooth patient and provider location data. Location data were validated against direct observations and EHR evaluation.
resultsThe HMM smoothed RFID system data accurately predicted patient location 80.6% of the time and provider location 79.1% of the time, compared to direct observation locations, an improvement over the raw RFID location data (65.0% and 77.9% accurate, respectively). Patient process time was on average 42.8 min (SD = 27.5) and wait time was 47.9 min (SD = 33.1). The installation and recurring capital costs of the system are approximately 10% of available commercially-supplied patient/provider tracking systems. DISCUSSION: Passive RFID time study systems can enable real-time localization of people in clinic, facilitating continuous capture of patient wait times and patient-provider interactions. The system must be tailored to the clinic to accurately reflect patient and provider movement.
conclusionsCapturing wait time data continuously and passively can empower continuous clinical quality improvement initiatives to enhance the patient experience.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.