The need of the healthcare industry today is to minimize the distance factor between patients and their monitoring hospitals/doctors, while providing necessary treatment at the required time. Millions of accident victims die every day due to lack of proper technology to track accident or injured victims.
Various technologies have come forward to resolve this ongoing issue and the one worth mentioning, is the GPS. Global Positioning System (GPS) is a space-based satellite navigation system which provides location and time-related data in all weather conditions. GPS Tracking Devices have proven to be a powerful addition to the suite of tools available to healthcare professionals.
More and more research is being done to make these devices more powerful and cost efficient, thus aiding incorporation of this wonderful human invention into various aspects of the healthcare domain.
The future prospects of the GPS Tracking Devices in healthcare are immense
- GPS Tracking Devices can be used in finding accident victims at precise geographic locations.
This can be a life saving job, as delay in finding the victim might risk their lives.
Onstar is one such GPS technology being used by the current medical industry, which automatically alerts the local authorities, if an accident occurs and uses GPS to tell the exact location of the accident. Cars equipped with GPS technology can be programmed to send automated SOS signals with location coordinates, in case they are involved in an accident. Messages can be sent to the local traffic controllers to clear the way for oncoming ambulances.
- One of the most important medical spheres that require GPS in tracking their patients is Alzheimer’s. The victims of Alzheimer’s, become more and more confused and forgetful about the time and place in which they exist, leading to a certain tendency to wander away and get themselves thoroughly lost and incapable of returning home.
- Here GPS Tracking Devices come to their rescue. Real-time GPS Tracking Devices and tracking devices, although relatively new to the market, have quickly entered the good graces of caregivers and nursing home workers of Alzheimer’s patients. These GPS Tracking Devices can be planted anywhere, starting from the patient’s watch to his shoes, which in turn sends a live signal to a central monitoring station, which determines their exact location. It then sends this information to a website for the caregiver to view. When the victim wanders past his preset boundaries, the caregiver is quickly notified via email or text.
- GPS technology is also very useful when it comes to tracking employees working in home health care industry. Health care agencies can use this versatile technology to restrict health care fraud and make transactions and services more transparent.
- The GPS Tracking Devices can be used to confirm that the nurses and other health care professionals are where they’re supposed to be, as well as keep a record of the services received and the patient’s confirmation.
GPS Tracking Devices are still a bit on the expensive side and taking such an ethically complex step as tracking someone’s location at all time, is a controversial issue that should be discussed at length with everyone involved – doctor, family and patient. However with its plentiful advantages, GPS Tracking Devices will surely surpass all these limitations to emerge as the most commonly used technology to locate and monitor accidents as well as patients.
As our cities grow large and crowded; as roads take us further into unchartered territories, its ability to help air ambulances/road ambulances in locating the nearest hospital with trauma care, usually translates to a choice between life and death for the accident victims. With many systems already in place successfully, GPS Tracking Devices to proving to be a boon for people in need of urgent medical assistance.
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