The clinical engineers at Walter Reed continuously work to preserve and support the material and machinery used to care for thousands of patients by servicing the equipment regularly. The problem they oftentimes encounter is locating a specific piece of medical equipment in need of upkeep.

ìThese guys spend countless man hours to find the equipment. Itís so counterproductive, there must be a better way,î said Franklin Ohaegbu, equipment specialist and project manager for the installation. ìThey are out there everyday and it doesnít include repairs.î

On a typical day, Walter Reed Army Medical Center has 3,400 outpatient appointments and 170 inpatients. Ohaegbu pointed out that it is essential the equipment used to treat this large population be easily located and kept up-to-date to avoid any major failures while caring for a patient.

ìIn the past, the engineers couldnít find them because they were not where they say it is. Itís been a problem for years. Even the hospital staff ñ theyíre tired of looking for equipment themselves,î he said.

When researching what type of radio frequency identification device would best suit the needs of WRAMC, a tracker was chosen that would have minimal disruption to hospital operations while being installed; 1,200 receivers taking less than five seconds to install each.

ìWeíre still trying to modify the features to suit us the way we want. Weíll get it to exactly the way we want it to be,î Ohaegbu said.

The 2011 integration of WRAMC with the National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda was also a factor in the project. ìIt can be moved anywhere. All we have to do is unplug it and go.î

Once the existing equipment has the new tracking device, every new piece will be tagged as it is received.