What Hospital Assets Can Be Tracked in a Healthcare Facility?

Consider these common hospital asset tracking examples: an infusion pump moves from a patient room to a cleaning area, a wheelchair leaves its assigned unit during a discharge, or a portable ultrasound system is borrowed by another department. The equipment is still in the hospital, but without an asset tracking system, staff may struggle to find it.

Hospital asset tracking examples include infusion pumps, wheelchairs, beds, stretchers, portable monitors, defibrillators, mobile imaging equipment, computers, and tablets. The best tracking method depends on how the equipment is used, where it travels, and the information staff need.

A real-time location system (RTLS) helps teams locate tagged equipment within covered areas of a healthcare facility. RFID can support inventory identification and tracking at designated checkpoints. Together, these approaches give hospitals options for managing equipment with different costs and operational requirements.

Hospital asset tracking examples: equipment you can track

Start with equipment that moves frequently, is shared across departments, or takes staff too long to find.

Infusion pumps and bedside devices

Infusion pumps are common candidates for tracking because they travel with patients and circulate between clinical units, storage areas, cleaning locations, and clinical engineering.

Trackable devices include:

• IV infusion pumps
• Syringe pumps
• Patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) pumps
• Enteral feeding pumps

The FDA identifies several types of infusion pumps used in clinical settings. A useful tracking program distinguishes between them so staff can search for the specific device they need.

Equipment records can include the device type, asset identifier, assigned department, and maintenance information. Those details help staff narrow a search and identify the appropriate equipment.

Wheelchairs, hospital beds, and stretchers

Patient transport equipment often moves beyond its assigned department during routine care.

A wheelchair may accompany a patient to an appointment and remain near the receiving department. A stretcher may be moved during a busy shift. Beds can circulate between patient rooms, cleaning areas, and storage.

Tracking these assets helps staff locate them across covered areas. Room-level visibility can make searches more useful by showing the specific room or storage location where a tagged item has been detected.

Portable diagnostic and monitoring equipment

Shared diagnostic devices are useful hospital asset tracking examples because they often move between departments throughout the day, making them difficult to locate when needed.

Potential candidates include:

• Portable ultrasound systems
• Bladder scanners
• Mobile vital signs monitors
• ECG machines
• Mobile imaging equipment

An NHS England case study describes how Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust used RTLS to track equipment including infusion pumps, bladder scanners, and patient trolleys.

Before tagging a device, hospitals should review mounting options, cleaning requirements, and manufacturer restrictions. The tag and its placement should suit the equipment without interfering with operation or routine care.

Defibrillators and emergency equipment

Defibrillators and mobile emergency carts are also candidates for tracking, particularly when teams need to know whether equipment has moved from its expected location.

Location visibility can support equipment retrieval and oversight. Readiness still depends on established inspection procedures, including battery, function, and supply checks.

Tracking a cart also requires a clear understanding of what the system identifies. A tag attached to the cart shows the cart’s location. Tracking individual devices or supplies within it requires additional identification and workflow design.

Computers, tablets, and mobile workstations

Hospital asset tracking extends to shared technology, including tablets, computers, and workstations on wheels.

These devices move between units and may be reassigned as staffing needs change. Location information can help IT teams retrieve equipment for service, replacement, or inventory reconciliation.

Rental and loaned equipment

Rental devices are another category of hospital asset tracking examples, particularly when temporary equipment moves between departments and becomes difficult to retrieve when the rental period ends.

A hospital may rent devices during periods of high demand or while owned equipment is being repaired. Finding those devices and coordinating their return becomes more difficult when they have moved between departments.

Connecting location information with rental records helps teams identify equipment approaching its return date. Sonitor’s ONE Asset application supports lease and rental due notifications and reporting on rental activity.

Can hospitals track smaller inventory items and supplies?

Yes. The hospital asset tracking examples above focus on reusable equipment, but smaller inventory items and supplies can also be tracked. These may require a different approach from mobile medical equipment.

A shared ultrasound system may need frequent location updates. For a lower-cost inventory item, confirming that it passed through a receiving area or entered a storage location may be sufficient.

RFID can support identification and inventory tracking without placing a battery-powered RTLS tag on every item. The available visibility depends on tag suitability, reader placement, and how items move through the facility.

SonitorONE solution integrates with RFID systems, allowing hospitals to combine checkpoint-based tracking with other location technologies.

How does hospital asset tracking work?

In a typical RTLS deployment, a tag attached to an asset transmits signals that installed infrastructure detects. Software links those signals to the asset’s identity and displays its location within the covered environment.

For example, at Sanford Health’s Innovation Unit, mobile medical equipment was fitted with Sonitor SmartTags, alongside location badges for patients and staff. The Sanford Health case study shows how equipment tracking can form part of a broader hospital RTLS deployment.

Depending on the tag and system configuration, tags can also support status updates and workflow events. Hospitals should select RTLS tags based on the required accuracy, equipment design, battery life, and daily use.

Different technologies support different tracking requirements:

Technology	Typical role
Ultrasound Low Energy™ (ULE)	Precise room-level and sub-room location
Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE)	Broader location visibility where less precision is sufficient
RFID	Inventory identification and detection at configured checkpoints

 

SonitorONE combines multiple technologies so hospitals can match the tracking approach to the use case.

Begin with the question staff need answered. Do they need to find an infusion pump in a specific room? Identify equipment within a department? Confirm that an item passed through a designated location?

Those requirements help determine the coverage, tags, and infrastructure needed.

Understanding the differences between asset tracking, asset management, and asset utilization helps hospitals decide whether their priority is locating equipment, managing its availability, or understanding how it is used.

Can asset tracking show whether equipment is ready to use?

These hospital asset tracking examples highlight why location alone is not enough: a nearby device may still be awaiting cleaning, assigned to a patient, or due for service.

Useful hospital equipment tracking connects location with reliable status information. That information may come from staff updates, configured workflow rules, or integrations with other systems.

For example, a hospital can configure a workflow in which equipment movement into a designated area triggers a status update. The workflow must accurately reflect what happens in that area.

SonitorONE Asset supports location-based status rules, including clean/dirty and in-use/not-in-use classifications. A location signal alone does not verify that cleaning or maintenance has been completed.

CDC infection prevention guidance calls for reusable medical equipment to be cleaned and reprocessed before use on another patient, following the manufacturer’s instructions.

Clear processes help staff interpret these indicators and decide whether equipment is available for the next patient.

Which hospital assets should you track first?

A practical first phase focuses on equipment associated with a recurring operational problem.

Good candidates include assets that:

• Staff regularly spend time searching for
• Move frequently between departments
• Generate avoidable rental or replacement costs
• Are difficult to retrieve for maintenance
• Are needed for time-sensitive care

Purchase price should be one consideration, rather than the sole basis for selection. A wheelchair can cause a discharge delay even though it costs much less than a diagnostic device.

Before deployment, establish a baseline for the problem being addressed. That could include equipment search time, rental activity, or the time required to retrieve devices for preventive maintenance.

Use those measures to evaluate the program and guide expansion to other equipment categories.

How Sonitor supports hospital asset tracking

SonitorONE combines location technologies with ONE Asset software to help hospitals locate and manage tagged equipment.

Ultrasound Low Energy supports workflows requiring room-level or sub-room precision. BLE and RFID integration provide additional options for equipment and inventory with different tracking needs.

Hospitals can also use asset information to support maintenance, equipment deployment, and replacement planning. Sonitor’s asset lifecycle approach connects location visibility with equipment management from deployment through retirement.

Use these hospital asset tracking examples as a starting point for identifying the equipment your teams struggle to find. Determine the location accuracy and status information they need, then build a tracking program around those requirements.

Explore Sonitor’s hospital asset tracking and utilization solutions.