Considering that real-time location system is itself a form of mobile technology, it comes as a surprise to learn that there have not been any mobile apps to track and control RTLS installations in healthcare. Until now.

Whether that actually matters to customers is subject to debate.

RLTS vendor Versus Technology, a vendor of RLTS specifically for healthcare on Tuesday announced the general availability of Enterprise View Mobile, a mobile version of its dashboard software for the Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. The Traverse City, Mich., says it is the first mobile app for healthcare RTLS to appear in the iTunes App Store.

That is a bit of a technicality, according to one competitor. Awarepoint, another RTLS vendor specializing in healthcare, offers web-based monitoring for its systems that works on standard computers, iPads and smartphones. “If you've got a web browser, then you can access the information,” company spokeswoman Xenia Moore tells MobiHealthNews in an e-mail.

The Versus mobile app, a free download, displays the locations of patients, staff and equipment in list form or on floorplan maps. Company officials say the app is aimed primarily at physicians and nurses.

“Clinicians are driving this,” Stephanie Bertschy, the company’s marketing director, tells MobiHealthNews.

“We’re really targeting the clinical staff,” explains Chief Technology Officer Kevin Jackson. “This puts quick and accurate information in the palm of their hands.”

The RTLS dashboard can link to and display data from other hospital systems, including electronic health records and clinical decision support, and the mobile app supports these capabilities, according to Jackson. It also can authenticate clinician-patient relationships according to location.

“Clinical information can come up on the [mobile] device based on doctor and patient badges,” Jackson says.

“We’re bringing more of how we use location information into a clinical context,” he adds.

Bertschy says Versus Technologies will be at HIMSS11 later this month to demonstrate how the app can automate processes.