The NTF Group's research, based on staff time saving, estimated the hospital will save about A$450,000 (US$352,700) per year.

With the wireless infrastructure still contained in the emergency and surgery departments, the goal is to expand its use throughout the hospital, and to expand its scope with other applications like RFID.

"We need to think about RFID so we can track our patients so we know where they are [as] patient logistics is a real problem for us now," Hanson said. "There is enormous potential to support all clinical initiatives across the state."

Both the hospital and vendors agreed that this project was a success because of the hospital's existing application framework which has been modernized to support electronic medical records, document-imaging, and an electronic admission and scheduling system.

"The applicability is there [but] you will see failed implementations of the same solution," Hanson said. "For us it was right at the time."