How to find an infusion pump in seconds

Published on November 7, 2026 · 7 min read

An ordinary day

A patient needs an infusion and the unit's pumps are all in use. Someone calls another unit, someone goes up a floor, someone opens cabinets. Meanwhile, time that should go to care goes to the search.

Without real-time location, the question “has anyone seen the infusion pump?” is the only tool the hospital has. With RTLS, it becomes a query on the map.

The search, step by step

In the demo video on the RTLS page, the search takes the whole building in 3D to the equipment in about 15 seconds. It uses demonstration data. These are the steps, from the point of view of the person searching:

1. Type what you need. The nurse searches by name, type, asset number or tag.
2. Read the list. Each result comes in words, such as “in Room 12” or “near Room 12, seen 40 min ago”. Free equipment is listed first.
3. See the point on the map. The pump shows up on the live map of the floor. In the 3D digital twin, the search takes the camera straight to the equipment.
4. Check the panel. It shows the room, the floor, the battery and the last update.
5. Pick the pump. With the list in hand, the nurse goes to a free pump nearby, without walking every floor.

What has to be in place

An answer in seconds depends on four things arranged before any search:

1. The pump carries a device. It can be a BLE beacon, a Wi-Fi tag or an eTag. The beacon announces a code, but the gateway that hears it is the one that talks to the hospital.
2. The building listens. BLE gateways report the signal strength they received, and Wi-Fi anchors act as references, each with its position registered on the floor plan.
3. The radio map exists. The system learns how the signal behaves on each floor. The survey, self-calibration and the quality dashboards build and maintain that map.
4. The places are registered. The calculated position becomes a useful place, such as a room, ward, unit or bed, plus a floor. That is what makes “in Room 12” possible.

What the answer says

SigaME shows the point on the map when it has evidence for it. When it does not, it shows only the room, only the floor or just proximity. That makes “near Room 12” a complete answer: it says what the system knows.

The time is part of the answer too. “Seen 40 min ago” and the last update in the panel make clear how long ago the information was captured, and the battery shows the state of the device.

What the hospital gets beyond the search

The same location that finds the pump feeds other routines:

1. History and trail. Where the item is now, where it has been and how long it stayed in each place.
2. Equipment status. Free, in use, dirty or under maintenance, according to the type of place where it is.
3. Minimum stock per unit. An alert when a unit falls below the minimum of free equipment, with the restocking task.
4. Rules and clinical engineering support. Alerts for entered, left, missing or stayed too long, and a list of equipment not seen for more than 7 days.

What the search does not promise

A pump without a device is not located. The quality of the position also depends on coverage: the better distributed the gateways and anchors, the better the result.

The building changes, and the signal changes with it. After a renovation, for example, the quality dashboard may show an area with a larger error. The installer runs a quick survey on that stretch, and the location becomes precise again.

Where to start

Choose by the problem that weighs most today. If the team often looks for infusion pumps and carts, RTLS is the module to start with, and you can add the others later.

SigaME works on its own: all registration is done in it. Integration with the hospital system is optional and does not block deployment.