River : a real-time location system providing indoor positional data acquisition for use in operational improvements within the healthcare environment

Emergency Department (ED) over-crowding has enormous impact on both patient outcomes and reported satisfaction, costing hospitals thousands of dollars per year. Protocols for increasing efficiency have been proposed with varying justifications. Many consulting firms exist to help ERs identify problems and implement solutions, but no system exists specifically to benchmark all the relevant information in an automated fashion. This report describes such a system using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology implemented with beacon devices deployed in each area of interest within the ER and mobile applications that will be installed on personnel phones. This system is deployed in a physical setting, with results presented.