How is Pneumatic Tube System Helping Hospitals?

Breakthrough in Intra-facility Logistics.png

Hospitals have a multitude of critical tasks that need to be performed with precision, and therefore, hospitals are becoming increasingly automated given the advanced information technology and equipment. Introducing efficiency into the healthcare system is not a new scenario in Indian cities like Mumbai, Jodhpur, Delhi, Jaipur, etc. The latest healthcare innovations such as radiology, modular operating theatre, automation, a surgical robot, etc., are readily accepted in the healthcare sector by cardiologists, neurologists, doctors, etc., and hospitals are upgrading their technology to enhance the quality of care.

Despite this, intra-facility logistics and material management are largely untouched by advancements. Intra-facility logistics are crucial to a health care system and include transports that are spontaneous in nature such as transportation of drugs, standard errands, billing documents, prescription, reports, samples, etc. A majority of hospitals rely on Human Based Transport systems viz., ward boys, patient’s attendants, and relatives for these spontaneous transports. For instance, it was revealed that the number of runs in a 600 bedded facility is approximately 350, which is huge. 

The Need for Pneumatic Tube Systems

According to a study, only a negligible amount of the total spending is spent on automating these facilities. However, recently it has also been revealed that inefficient intra-facility logistics have increased the cost of human resources and other factors such as healthcare delivery. Along with this, it has also caused several problems in the hospitals including increased risks of treatment and decreased the quality of patient care in the facility.

For these reasons, optimisation of hospital logistics is becoming more and more important. There is a growing need of integrated healthcare system for providing seamless care to the patients, reducing manual work, and improving efficiency. Pneumatic Tube System (PTS) is one such advanced microprocessor-based system of transportation that combines speed with reliability in numerous logistical needs. These are highly complex systems, which are used for a variety of small and medium-sized tasks.

Advantages of Pneumatic Tube Systems

These systems are gaining importance in modern hospitals because of the host of benefits they provide:

  1. Increase the speed of tasks such as sample delivery to a greater extent

  2. Pneumatic tube systems save a lot of space and time

  3. Increase the efficiency of the workforce

  4. Prevent damage of the delivered pathological specimen

  5. Decrease the median turnaround time

  6. More reliable than traditional approaches

The pneumatic tube system is a valuable alternative to conventional workforce dependent transport. There is a definite saving in the workforce and operational costs. Implementation of the systems mentioned above in healthcare facility department can improve the overall efficiency. Medipulse is one such hospital, which houses state of the art equipment and advanced machinery to enhance the overall efficiency of the operations.