'Hi, I'm a Dirty Hospital Bed'

The following item was posted by Nextgov Editor at Large Bob Brewin.

We've all heard of electronic whiteboards used to add a little punch to usually boring presentations, but how about "electronic bed boards" to track the status of hospital beds?

I stumbled into the world of electronic hospital bed tracking last week when I ran across a contract notice from the Veterans Affairs Department's Jesse Brown hospital in Chicago to lease software from an outfit called Tele-Tracking Technologies Inc. in Pittsburgh.

Tele-Tracking, according to its website, has developed some truly nifty bed tracking software, all bundled into its Bed Manager Suite, which includes real-time bed tracking so "idle, dirty beds are a thing of the past."

That's not all: "Upon patient discharge, a quick and easy interactive voice response telephone request automatically pages an environmental services staff member to begin the cleaning process."

If Tele-Tracking ever decided to come up with a retail version, this could be a handy item for families with children who never make their beds.