A study at a Korean university hospital has shown the potential of using a real-time location system in preventing the spread of infectious diseases like COVID-19.
A research team from the Department of Infectious Diseases at Yongin Severance Hospital, a university hospital in Yongin City, conducted a study to compare the effectiveness and validity of RTLS with a conventional contact tracing method. commonly used to identify high-risk contacts for COVID-19-hospital-positive patients.
RESULT
The study identified more than 1,000 confirmed contacts of COVID-19 patients in the first quarter of the year.
The The findings, published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, show that RTLS is more sensitive in detecting high-risk contacts (60%) than conventional contact tracing. often (46.8%), involving face-to-face interviews and evaluation of EMR feeds and surveillance cameras.
Furthermore, RLTS showed a secondary transmission rate of 8.1% among the identified cases while the conventional method showed 5.3%.
WHY IT IMPORTANT
There is a growing need for technologies to assist hospitals already overwhelmed in reducing the burden of infection control during the pandemic.
Although research has shown that the sensitivity value of RTLS in identifying secondary transmission is “not acceptablely high” for a single contact tracing method, it can still benefits hospitals as a complementary tool to conventional contact tracing methods, “especially when individuals are in the same room and under the influence of highly contagious diseases”, the the study’s authors said in their conclusion.
TREND TO BIGGER WOMAN
In the early months of the pandemic, Tan Tock Seng Hospital in Singapore also incorporated RTLS into its COVID-19 response to better handle the influx of patients. It provides RTLS tags for patients, visitors, and staff for contact tracing, and uses the same technology for real-time device tracking.
