Fimlab: Keeping Point-of-Care Devices Information Up-to-Date with Help of Trackinno Service

When the leasing of point-of-care (POC) diagnostic devices started to strengthen its foothold in Fimlab’s servicescape, the company noticed, that maintaining device information in Excel and device specific logbooks was not enough anymore. The company needed a solution, which gathers all the information into one system. Now, Fimlab utilizes Trackinno cloud service to manage their point-of-care devices.

The challenge of scattered information in device management

Fimlab Laboratoriot Oy provides a wide range of services, one of which is leasing point-of-care (POC) diagnostic devices. Point-of-care (POC) diagnostics is defined as diagnostic testing made near the patient and usually run by nursing unit staff. The result of a POC test is utilized in diagnostics and it has an impact on the treatment decision. “Previously, POC diagnostics had a much smaller role, but now the situation has changed completely,” Outi Malminiemi, the chemist responsible for POC diagnostic methods, says. “One of the goals of my department is to make Fimlab more well-known as a POC diagnostics provider.”

The challenge that has emerged in the leasing of POC devices is keeping devices’ information up-to-date. Previously, the devices were logged in the health care district’s database and the information was also managed by the health care district. This made maintaining the information complicated. “The information was neither up-to-date nor available, and it could not be utilized in invoicing at all, for example,” Malminiemi clarifies. Because Fimlab did not have any other tools for managing devices, they started to build their own Excel files in addition to device specific logbooks that were on paper beside every device.

Even though maintaining the information was challenging, the search for a solution started through another need. “Actually, we were looking for a tool to maintain our chemical register. It came to mind, if a similar approach could be utilized in device management,” Malminiemi explains.

POC devices information centrally hosted in cloud service

At Fimlab, Trackinno was chosen to provide the solution for POC device management. The devices are labeled with Trackinno’s QR-code/NFC tags, which act as links to information maintained in the cloud service. “One of Trackinno’s great qualities is that the device’s information in the database can be accessed with a smart phone when at the device,” Outi Malminiemi says.

With Trackinno, information is centrally hosted in one place and the service acts both as a device register and a device specific logbook. “Previously the logbooks have been on paper beside each device. Now, the information is gathered in Trackinno and it can be viewed anywhere,” Fimlab’s POC coordinator Suvi Koskinen says. “Everything is saved electronically, which also eliminates the risk of lost papers.”

In addition to Malminiemi and Koskinen, Trackinno service is currently used by eight point-of-care nurses and well over 400 devices have been registered to the service. Also, the customer service staff is intended to have read access to Trackinno. “We document all the factors of the point-of-care service to Trackinno: devices, device event history, customer contact information, device usage periods, other billable services and our own asset usages,” Malminiemi tells. “From these factors, we can view information needed in each case.”

Many kinds of benefits from cloud service

Suvi Koskinen, who is responsible for managing Fimlab’s POC devices, uses Trackinno cloud service daily. “By using the service, I can save time for example when I get a call from a customer saying there is a problem in using a specific device. I can quickly view the device information from the service to find out what the problem and solution were the last time,” Koskinen tells. “Also, when a device is sent for maintenance, I can quickly copy the device event history to an email, for example.” Trackinno enables staff to react to problems faster, which reflects to customers as smooth service.

The data gathered in the cloud service can be utilized in customer invoicing, supporting operations enhancement and resourcing. Also, the disappearance of leased POC devices is tried to prevent by the help of Trackinno. “For that, we asked for a last seen feature, which is a feature to confirm a customer has a certain device,” Outi Malminiemi says. “Based on our device register, it sometimes seems like a customer has a certain device in use, but the customer does not recognize it and claims they do not have it.” Trackinno’s “Verify asset information” feature can be used in connection with yearly customer visits to add a note to device information that the device has been seen.