What is RFID technology in healthcare?

RFID solutions are used in a majority of applications and processes of the healthcare industry. Essential features of RFID technology have enabled it to fit ideally to the services provided in this sector. Below are the applications and benefits of RFID in healthcare. Patient tracking and history records Patients wear an RFID-enabled wristband that can help hospital staff keep track of their locations and movements. This wristband generally has important information about the patient including name, medical history, and allergies. It helps doctors to get to know a patient’s allergies to any medication, especially when they have been admitted for a long time. It also provides crucial information regarding the patient’s medical history that could prove to be critical when undergoing surgery. Medicine & pharmaceutical tracking RFID solutions enable easy tracking of medicine and pharmaceutical products. The system provides details on expiry of medicine and stock levels, including the current stock count. It is vital because hospitals have critical products, including medicines that need to be readily available, especially during emergencies. Stock levels of surgical supplies including gloves, masks, and syringes are also tracked and monitored to help check their availability and to get them when stock levels go down. Equipment tracking & inventory management Tracking machines and various equipment used in hospitals is crucial for the administration. It helps them know where the vehicles and equipment are placed at any given time and also aids in asset management. Hospital assets need to constantly be in ready-to-use mode and RFID solutions help track these either within or outside of the premises. It is also beneficial in inspecting devices in the operating theater regularly to prevent the occurrence of any unplanned breakdowns. Predict patient flow with RFID tags RFID technology helps hospitals analyze data and predict patient flow, plan device purchase and medical supply, identify the hospital’s staff load that includes doctors and nurses. The results of this analysis can help the management alter the workflow of the hospital staff, surgery schedules, and patient treatment plans. Infant safety RFID solutions help ensure infant safety by preventing abductions and accidental switching of newborns. An RFID-enabled band is tied around the baby’s wrist or ankle which can help identify the location and movements. It can also track infants that move around the birthing unit. A similar wristband is given to the mother that pairs with the baby’s. It helps prevent accidental switching of babies in neonatal or maternity wards. Temperature monitoring for supply storage Hospitals require adequate storage of various items to use during surgical procedures and for other purposes. An RFID solutions provider can deploy a combination of RFID tags and Wi-Fi to measure humidity and temperature for tracking essential medical equipment. In 2017, Covenant Specialty Hospitals in Lubbock, Texas, deployed this technology with sensors to monitor humidity and temperature levels in hospital refrigerators that store medication, vaccines, and food. These RFID tags also monitored temperature and humidity levels in surgery units. Before deploying RFID technology, the team at Covenant Specialty Hospital used to check the temperature manually every day. In this system, the tags read the temperature values and transmit this information in real-time over the network to cloud-based software. [1] Staff tracking Medical staff wear RFID-enabled wristbands or badges that can show their locations and interactions to the relevant medical supervisors. It helps medical supervisors track the whereabouts of doctors and nurses in case of emergencies. RFID technology also helps management to detect bottlenecks in hospital workflow and reduce overwork conditions for specific staff members. Sterilization and tracking of surgical equipment RFID solutions enable staff to not only track surgical tools but also ensure that they are adequately sterilized. Improper sterilization of surgical tools can lead to contamination in patients. Tools that are not cleaned and disinfected after every use could have bacteria infestation. Therefore, it is vital to track the sterilization of surgical tools and monitor it regularly. Hospital visitors tracking Hospital administrative staff can track and monitor the visitors within its premises. It prevents unauthorized access to critical zones including inventories and operation theaters. It also helps ensure the safety of patients. Visitors are also mapped to patients so that an alert is sent to hospital administration if they are not identified to be near the patient or in hospital common spaces. Patient-doctor interactions control RFID solutions collect data on interactions between patients and hospital staff to ensure that patient-care is provided in a timely manner and with the correct frequency. It is especially relevant for behavioral health facilities. Tracking analytics and reporting Tracking systems analyze the information that is collected regarding hospital asset demand and duration, movements of patients, medical staff, and visitors, and their interactions with each other. This data can help identify patterns in people’s behavior and asset usage trends to plan on how to improve staff workflow, security measures, asset availability, and bed allocation. A dashboard provides visualized information on trends for responsible hospital personnel such as head of department and supply chain managers.