Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a subset of a group of technologies, often referred to as automatic identification, that are used to help machines identify objects, and which include bar codes and smart cards. RFID refers to the subset of automatic identification that uses radio waves to automatically identify bulk or individual itemsAn RFID system consists of three components: a tag (or multiple tags), a reader or interrogator andTag is a tag that can have its memory changed, or written to, many times.. Passive-RFID systems are effective for uniquely identifying things and people in controlled settings. Reader can be configured as either a handheld or a fixed mount device

surgeon all use handheld devices equipped with RFID interrogators to identify that patient positively Information is organized in status view screens for each stage of the department from registration to recovery units The combination of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags and Wi-Fi allows real-time tracking of objects or people inside a wireless network. The radio emits radio wave sin range of anywhere between one inch to 100 feet or more depending upon the power output and the radio frequency used

Patient Care and Management (providing a means to rapidly and accurately verify information concerning patient allergies, prescription history, etc. to prevent surgical errors). Clinicians achieve greater efficiencies, patients realize a better overall surgical experience, and waiting loved ones are engaged with relevant surgical status information...Among the fears are a mistake such as the doctor operating on the wrong leg or performing the wrong procedure. Although such mistakes are rare in the thousands of operations that take place in the United States each day, they do happen.. . The product could provide a useful means for health care organizations to avoid surgical errors and assuage patient concerns, she said. This information is documented before during and after surgery to ensure correctness and patient safety. Using RFID to identify patient will help ensure information is correct and increase patient safety. "This is one more way for us to be super-sure" that the correct patient is about to undergo the right surgery, says Dr. Frank Cook, "JCAHO [the Joint Committee on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations] is reporting five to six wrong site surgeries per month," said Debbie Murphy

According to ClearCount, recent studies have estimated that cases of retained foreign bodies occur between 1 out of every 100 to 1 out of every 5,000 surgical procedures, and studies have shown that two-thirds of all retained foreign bodies are surgical sponges. This seems like a really clever use of RFIDMany of them are not discovered until years later. Infections around the sponge cause them to be detected earlier. This required an additional operation, causing unnecessary worry to both doctors as well as patients.during postoperative safety checks to find any sponges mistakenly left behind. The idea is to embed chips in surgical equipment, and then wave a detector over surgical patients to make sure the doctors didn't accidentally leave something inside the body. Another advantage is that the technology may help minimize staff time in the operating room not dedicated to patient care through use of RFID for instrument counting before and after procedures.

RFID-based patient tracking can speed up patient flow in high-volume areas such as OR, increasing income and eliminating the need for costly capital expansions . It will be frustructing to find out on the day of the schedule surgery that our staff don’t have the instrument needed to complete the Surgery. Management departments can reduce the time required to manage equipment inventory. RFID has been implemented in several major hospitals around the country. Their experience shows how RFID can decrease inventory loss, increase time devoted to patients and improve the accuracy of instruments required for surgeries and other treatments. . Consider the consequences of nursing not able to find a medical device that would save a patient's life. Consider the consequences or nurse time spent looking from room to room for hospital assets. Consider the frustration of your nurses an Patient identification and Patient tags with RFID chips will meet this need. Easy, accurate inventory counts, Reduce out-of-stock items on the sales floor,

Most companies will need to hire a systems integrator to install the readers, determine the right placement of tags for products and make sure that they are feeding data to the middleware in the right format. Companies will also need to invest in training for their employees, particularly engineering staff who will manage readers in manufacturing and warehouse facilities, and IT staff who will work on the systems that manage RFID data. Active tags generally cost from $10 to $50, depending on the amount of memory. OrderING a radio frequency identification system involves a lot more than purchasing the right tags and installing the right readers (see Basics of RFID Technology). To get business value from the all of the information collected, companies will need middleware to filter the data. They may need toThe cost of middleware varies from vendor to vendor and is usually based on the number of locations where it will be installed, the complexity of the application and many other factors. Forrester Research put the cost of middleware at $183,000 for a $12 billion manufacturer looking to meet the RFID tagging requirements of a major retailer. If your RFID infrastructure is evolving, consider teaming up with other companies in your supply chain to buy together in volume. There needs to be bridge software, or middleware, incorporated into the overall architecture to prevent the amount of data that hits the system at the same time from overwhelming it. So RFID requires data filtering and data-flow management, to turn parallel, two-way data into the serialized data that a legacy system can handle. These functions can be also partially handled by the printer/encoders and readers. depends on how much RFID increases the overall amount of data flow within the network. If existing networks can handle the additional traffic with the speed required by the applications, they should not necessarily need to be upgraded or be any more complexAt this time, no significant barriers have emerged that would prevent implementing and using RFID technology in a variety of applications.Companies will also need to purchase servers to run middleware within a warehouse, distribution center or production facility. That means that companies will need to invest in enterprise applications that can make use of RFID data. They made need to upgrade enterprise applications and integrate it with RFID middleware. The cost of these applications vary depending on the number of "seats"—how many users will access the application—the number of locations ??? and other factors. companies need to purchase middleware to filter RFID data Keep in mind that every company's needs—and every application—are different, so costs will vary widely from implementation to implementation RFID tag prices have fallen in recent years, but they're still pricey. Consider buying tags in volume to negotiate a better price. Another consideration—the need for more bandwidth in the networkWe may need to hire a systems integrator and upgrade enterprise applications, such as warehouse management systems. We may also need to upgrade networks within facilities and, we will need to pay for the installation of the readers.enterprise applications Price Range $1,233 to $1,279 The simple fact, today, is that RFID middleware can be purchased for as little as $5,000 to $20,000, and with enough functionality to run most RFID applicationsRFID middleware, simply put, is a software layer residing between the RFID hardware and the existing back-end system or application software. It extracts data from the RFID interrogators (readers), filters it, aggregates it and routes it to enterprise applications such as a warehouse management system (WMS), enterprise resource planning (ERP) software or a manufacturing execution system (MES).

The advantages of RFID systems are more than cost. It supports self check-ins and checkouts, the inventory, and the handling of materials. The ability to pinpoint the misplaced items saves a lot of money spent for replacing items. An RFID system can save labour cost. readers range in price from $500 to $3000, depending on their functionality. ...

Radio tags” help eliminate retained foreign bodiesHowever we can take action to protect our patient privacy bythe hospital setting, active tags most commonly are used for locating portable equipment (eg, infusion pumps, blood pressure monitors, wheelchairs) to help ensure that caregivers and other hospital staff aren’t taking time away from patient care by chasing down devices. Active tags also can be used to locate staff or patients. Passive tags, however, typically are used on fixed assets or at the point of care when close-proximity scanning and data delivery are needed, such as scanning a wristband tag for a patient’s medication information. Key components of a system include the chips and receivers, as well as software that captures and processes the signals and applications using the information for business support.

RFID systems can help improve patient care while cutting costs.wrong site surgery ). However we can take action to protect our patient privacy

Once the information is written to the tag, it's electronically locked,so the information cannot be changed or altered," Stewart says. "The information is encrypted, so we meet HIPAA compliancy because all the information that's stored on the tag is protected." It's important to understand, and to effectively communicate with stakeholders—including patients—that tags cannot be tracked anywhere except inside the hospital. Also, chnicians might expect the abilit)' to temporarily disable their tags when they choose not to be disturbed. In evaluating a technology, verify that neither personalnor confidential information is transmitted; that data is stored on a secure server; and that the solutionprovides the tools to allow the hospital to be compliant with the Health Insurance Portability andAccountability Act (HIPAA). These issues relate to data sharing and consumer–patient privacy concerns and present greater costs and challenges in the hospital industry than they do in other industries adopting RFID technology (Collins J. 2004). Healthcare providers need to comply with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which requires an organization to take “reasonable” measures to safeguard electronic health data (Fenner 2004).To prevent snooping, the tags would need either a random number stored in a secure database to identify the medicine or a security code to access the data stored on the chip. Either security option would increase the cost of chips and readers (Kontnik and Dahod 2004). March 1, 2002Mark is the founder and editor of RFID Journal. He has reported on business for major publications worldwide since 1985

Roberti, Mark. “THE WORLD'S RFID AUTHORITY”. 1 March 2002. RFID Journal. <http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/221/>

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