Optimizing spatial healthcare assets with Internet of Things

Abstract

Six percent of the total cost of healthcare delivery in Australia is from buying, building and maintaining physical assets. Current practice does not measure the efficient use of existing clinical spaces prior to making funding decisions for service expansion, remodeling or relocation. Healthcare service delivery can be increased through existing assets by optimizing the use of clinical space. The wait times for healthcare service consumers and capital expenditure pressures could be reduced, which would result in increased funds available for frontline services. Sensor technology has been used to study aspects of time in ambulatory outpatient clinics using Infra-red Tags or Radio Frequency Identification tags. This paper proposes the use of Internet of Things (IoT) technology to assist in the optimization of high-value clinical spaces and presents phase one of the project where a trial was held in a non-clinical location to evaluate sensor performance. In Phase two, sensors will be installed to count people across an ambulatory outpatient clinic in a live public healthcare environment to understand clinical space utilization and inform decision-makers. The data produced by the sensors on room use is processed for visualization in “dashboard” format so frontline and executive staff have evidence-based decision-making support for space optimization strategies. This paper presents the phase one trial and preliminary results that show the disparity space utilization patterns between the IoT sensed occupancy data with the current room reservation system in a non-clinical space.