Tagging patients in a hospital
Submitted by jeffrey on Tue, 2007-04-24 07:05.
Tags: Hospital | Patients
However, RFID can also be used to tag individuals. Various organizations and agencies are finding the technology useful to tag key people. Birmingham Heartlands Hospital is one such institution which has found the technology very useful to identify certain patients. It is part of the Heart of England NHS Trust and has nearly 1000 beds and in association with other Trust hospital handles about 150,000 patients every year.
One of the most common problems in hospitals around the world is the incorrect identification of patients for any medical treatment. Often we hear cases where a doctor conducts a particular surgery on a patient who had totally different ailment. Often cases are heard where a particular patient was given a treatment which was actually supposed to be given to some other patient. Such errors can ruin the life of patient. Doctors and the concerned hospital too face big legal cases and have to often compensate patients with huge amounts of money.
Birmingham Heartlands hospital technology department was keen to avoid possibilities of such grave errors by its staff. It started tagging patients in its ENT and thoracic surgical departments. RFID enabled wristbands were given to all patients in the ward. The 13.56 MHz RFID tags had a unique identification code of the patient. Additionally, the RFID tag holds Date of Birth, gender and name of the patient. Key hospital staff is given handheld PDA which also has in it a RFID tag reader. The main software holds the entire history of the patients with the same identification number. Whenever, a patient is diagnosed or undergoes surgery, the tag is first scanned. The main software shows entire patient information on the PDA. A photograph too is displayed on the PDA. This way the doctor gets real time information about the patient. This eliminates chances of doing an incorrect surgery or treatment of the patient. Once, the patient is discharged, the band is discarded.
Technorati Tags: Hospital# Patients# #
Tags: Hospital | Patients
RFID is a technology known for its usage in tracking different types of assets. It is mostly used to track a variety of goods from manufacturing facility to the distributor, from distributor to the retailer and then to the final customers. Big retailers like Wal Mart and Target are using it extensively and have plans to increase its usage.
Tracking people with RFID
However, RFID can also be used to tag individuals. Various organizations and agencies are finding the technology useful to tag key people. Birmingham Heartlands Hospital is one such institution which has found the technology very useful to identify certain patients. It is part of the Heart of England NHS Trust and has nearly 1000 beds and in association with other Trust hospital handles about 150,000 patients every year.
Need for tracking patients
One of the most common problems in hospitals around the world is the incorrect identification of patients for any medical treatment. Often we hear cases where a doctor conducts a particular surgery on a patient who had totally different ailment. Often cases are heard where a particular patient was given a treatment which was actually supposed to be given to some other patient. Such errors can ruin the life of patient. Doctors and the concerned hospital too face big legal cases and have to often compensate patients with huge amounts of money.
The solution
Birmingham Heartlands hospital technology department was keen to avoid possibilities of such grave errors by its staff. It started tagging patients in its ENT and thoracic surgical departments. RFID enabled wristbands were given to all patients in the ward. The 13.56 MHz RFID tags had a unique identification code of the patient. Additionally, the RFID tag holds Date of Birth, gender and name of the patient. Key hospital staff is given handheld PDA which also has in it a RFID tag reader. The main software holds the entire history of the patients with the same identification number. Whenever, a patient is diagnosed or undergoes surgery, the tag is first scanned. The main software shows entire patient information on the PDA. A photograph too is displayed on the PDA. This way the doctor gets real time information about the patient. This eliminates chances of doing an incorrect surgery or treatment of the patient. Once, the patient is discharged, the band is discarded.
The solution has been an instant hit at the hospital. Customer satisfaction levels too have gone up. Hospital is now planning to implement the same in other wards.
Technorati Tags: Hospital# Patients# #