Hospital Operating Rooms are now Optimized in Real-time With a Joint Solution From Karl Storz and Ekahau

RESTON, Virginia, December 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

Ekahau Inc. the leading global provider of high performance Wi-Fi-based Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS), and KARL STORZ GmbH & Co. KG, the endoscopy specialist, announced today a joint solution for OR management. The MIC Clinic in Berlin has successfully deployed and is using the combined solution of Karl Storz ORchestrion^® and Ekahau RTLS for automatic real-time management of clinical processes around their OR.

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The ORchestrion^® Steering and Localization Module (SLM) is a software solution developed by KARL STORZ that enables the monitoring and control of all surgical treatment processes in the OR. The solution has been enhanced with the Ekahau RTLS system giving hospital staff an unprecedented and automated overview of the surgical procedure flow. Unpredictable events, such as emergency cases, are seamlessly integrated into the existing resource planning without compromising the current work flow. The combined solution and the related optimization of operations planning and execution bring significant cost savings to the daily work-flow in the OR. The solution can be easily integrated in existing hospital information systems and wireless networks and does not require the deployment of any new infrastructure.

At the MIC Clinic in Berlin, the operating room staff use the ORchestrion^® SLM for daily patient sequence control. With the help of Ekahau's latest generation Wi-Fi tags, the solution meets all the challenges that arise in monitoring various resources and in coordinating their application in the operating theater. Since communications are handled over the existing Wi-Fi network, time-consuming phone calls between the individual service facilities are a thing of the past. Thanks to mobile task management, physicians and nursing staff receive automated text messages on their portable devices telling them where the patients are during the entire OR process. The patients are tracked using the Ekahau T301W Wearable Wi-Fi tags. In addition to optimizing OR utilization, the automation of the OR surgery schedule also benefits the patients by enabling shorter wait times because of a more systematic process flow.

"With SLM, the processes around the OR are controlled by means of a highly automated task transmission capability to mobile terminals (mobile task management). In case deviations occur in the schedule, SLM helps adapt the process flow in a way that overall OR utilization is still optimized despite these unexpected delays," says Stefanie Klutznik, Nursing Services Manager for Outpatient and Ambulatory Services of the MIC Clinic.

"I'm constantly amazed at the resourceful applications our partner companies are creating with our RTLS solutions" said Dirk Lenz, Regional Director Central and Eastern Europe, at Ekahau. "Karl Storz and the MIC Clinic worked with us to find a great solution to a real pain point at MIC, that not only optimizes work-flow and resource utilization but drives patient satisfaction".

Ekahau RTLS is a software-based Real Time Location System, which tracks the location and status or assets and people using a hospital's existing Wi-Fi network. Ekahau RTLS does not require any proprietary infrastructure to be installed yet provides unparalleled performance when compared to similar proprietary approaches.  

About the MIC Clinic, Berlin:

The hospital is specialized in the field of minimally invasive surgery, also called key-hole surgery. The key factors are a safe method, experienced surgeons, if possible organ conserving surgery using minimal access sites as well as treatment according to the latest international standards and with the best technology available. The hospital provides medical technology on the highest international level: The MIC Clinic has at its disposal one of the most modern operating theatres worldwide.

About KARL STORZ:

Since its beginnings in the year 1945, the family business KARL STORZ has established itself as a global international company in the production and sale of endoscopes, medical instruments and devices with 5,800 employees worldwide. For more than ten years, the company has been linking the innovation- and quality-oriented product range to software-based process solutions to support imaging, documentation and control of medical services. As a system partner for solutions for operating theatres and surgeries, KARL STORZ provides an intelligent IT-solution for efficient OR-management in the field of ORchestrion^®. The integrated process and resource management ORchestrion^®, a web-based modular system, accompanies each step of the value-added chain of the operation theatre. The entire process is controlled from treatment planning and operation through to the patient's transport back to the infirmary.

About Ekahau:

Ekahau Inc. is the industry leader in providing Wi-Fi-based RTLS solutions. Ekahau's customers, including several Fortune 500 companies worldwide, are realizing the benefits of Wi-Fi based location services and innovative Wi-Fi network planning and optimization tools. Ekahau's solutions are being used in more than 300 hospitals around the world, as well as by manufacturing, retail and industrial companies, government agencies and the military. Ekahau partners include wireless software developers, leading system integrators and international OEM partners, who develop and market wireless enterprise applications. Ekahau is a U.S.-based corporation, with headquarters in Reston, VA, and other offices in Saratoga, CA; Helsinki, Finland; Tokyo and Hong Kong. For more information about Ekahau, please visit http://www.ekahau.com.

http://www.karlstorz.com

SOURCE Ekahau