Radio frequency identification (RFID) In Health Industry
Radio frequency identification (RFID) is an innovative technology that encompasses the use of non wireless platforms to send and receive data (Marcinko, 2012). Microchips are mostly used in RFID in order to transmit signals. The application of RFID is evident in most industries. In health care, RFID serves numerous roles such as management of hospital equipment, access control and inventory management. These tasks are core towards the efficiency of health care management. In recent years, the use of RFID in tracking patients has been widespread (Banks, 2007).In order to promote the quality of treatment, it is paramount to monitor the patient’s condition regularly. Through RFID systems, health care organizations can track many patients at the same time. This research seeks to examine the use of RFID to track patients in the health care industry. The paper will present the importance of RFID in tracking patients while also evaluating the exact standards that apply.
Importance of RFID Standards in Tracking Patients
Monitoring Patient’s Condition
The quality of treatment outcome depends on how health care practitioners keep track of patients. Irrespective of the illness, it is vital to monitor the patient’s condition as frequent as possible. This helps in assessing the patient’s progress with in relation to the treatment plan. Frequent assessments are also vital is ensuring that the patient’s condition does not deteriorate. This highlights the essence of implementing RFID standards in the health care industry (Varshney, 2009). RFID technology presents an effective platform through which health care organizations can monitor patients. This applies to outpatients and inpatients. For outpatients, the physician or nurse can monitor the patient’s condition as he or she recuperates away from the hospital. It is quite expensive for health care organizations to deploy personnel to help in monitoring the patients’ progress from their homes.
Additionally, such an approach would consume a lot of time. However, hospitals avert this challenge through the use of RFID technology (Rodriguez, 2009). In essence, patients are fitted with special RFID tags. The tag for each patient is unique so as to avoid conflicts. These tags have the capacity to transmit signals to computer systems at the hospital. Consequently, the physician can monitor the patient’s condition at any time. From the perspective of inpatients, doctors and nurses can monitor the patient’s condition without necessarily visiting the wards. The RFID standards for inpatients are also beneficial in terms of monitoring the patient’s condition and thus avert potential deterioration of health condition (Varshney, 2009).
Tracking Patient’s Location
Apart from assessing the patient’s condition, RFID standards are useful in tracking the patient’s geographical location. This mostly applies to large health care organizations. Such hospitals have hundreds of patients. Without an effective technological system, it is difficult to monitor such patients. However, determining the patient’s precise location is possible through RFID. These standards are especially useful for patients who are suffering from mental problems. When patients are fitted with special RFID tags, health care practitioners can determine the exact location (Banks, 2007).
Assessment of Patient’s Records
Another vital role of RFID standards in tracking patients is the assessment of patient’s records. These records are crucial in assessing an individual’s medical history. In essence, an individual’s medical history has direct implications upon the treatment approach used by the physician. For instance, some patients have had numerous x-rays or computerized tomography scans in the past. Such scans affect an individual’s body system and can hamper the response to some types of medications (Marcinko, 2012). However, RFID standards are vital in ensuring that the physician understands the patient’s health history (Banks, 2007). This is vital in developing the appropriate treatment plan.Apart from developing appropriate treatment plans, patient’s records are essential in averting potential health crises in hospitals or other health care organizations. Some patients might be suffering from contagious diseases that spread rapidly. Without understanding the patient’s medical history, it would not be possible to avert such eventualities. However, physicians can easily assess the patient’s medical history through RFID technology (Rodriguez, 2009).
Monitoring Infants
In maternity units, RFID standards help in protecting the newly born babies. Incidents of missing babies are common in different health care organizations soon after they are born. Such health care organizations do not have effective systems for ensuring the safety of newly born babies. However, radio frequency identification standards have been crucial in preventing these types of incidents. When babies have been fitted with special RFID tags, the health care organizations can easily track them even if they are abducted by malicious intruders. From another perspective, the special RFID tags are vital in averting incidences of mistaken identity while handling the medical records of infants. The use of RFID in tracking patients has been a critical component in enhancing the productivity of health care organizations (Varshney, 2009).
Enhancement of Productivity in Health Care Organizations
The accurate assessment of patients’ condition is essential in enhancing the quality of treatment. Through this approach, health care organizations minimize operational costs. When health care organizations minimize operational costs, they can easily enhance their productivity. Productivity is among the most essential perspectives within all types of health care organizations (Marcinko, 2012). This applies to public and private hospitals. Tracking patients using RFID standards is also vital in health research. Best practices in health care are derived from evidence based practice. Such research helps in gathering precise data with regard to the improvement of health care practices.
RFID Standards
RFID Tags
RFID tags are attached to the patient’s body. For instance, most tags are enclosed to the patient’s wrist. In special circumstances, the tags might be attached inside the patient’s body so as to avert any interference or manipulations. These tags have the capacity to transmit signals at different frequencies. Whereas some tags have low frequency, others have high frequency. The information sent from RFID tags should be compatible with the special RFID software (Varshney, 2009).
RFID Software
This is a computer program with the capacity to receive transmissions from RFID tags. Through the software, physicians and nurses can assess information from the tags. RFID software is also crucial in analyzing data from the RFID tags rapidly. Accurate analysis of such data helps in interpretation. The software systems for RFID are also vital in establishing the exact location RFID tags. This depends on the frequency strength (Banks, 2007).
Readers
RFID readers have the capacity to operate independently from the computer software. For instance, the RFID readers may be placed strategically in doorways. This helps in monitoring patient’s condition. The readers have the capacity to receive transmissions from the RFID tags. Consequently, health care practitioners can establish the exact location of patients (Rodriguez, 2009).
Conclusion
The paper presents a comprehensive evaluation of the use of RFID standards in tracking patients. Frequent assessments are vital is ensuring that the patient’s condition does not deteriorate. This highlights the essence of implementing RFID standards in the health care industry. RFID technology presents an effective platform through which health care organizations can monitor patients. Through RFID technology, it is also possible to protect infants in maternity units.
References
Banks, J. & Thompson, L. G. (2007). RFID Applied, Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons
Marcinko, D. E. & Halico, H. R. (2012). Hospitals and health care organizations, Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press
Rodriguez, J. (2009). Health information systems, Hershey, PA: IGI Publications
Varshney, U. (2009). Pervasive healthcare computing, New York, NY: Springer
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