Radio Frequency Identification Technology
Radio Frequency Identification Technology
Radio Frequency Identification technology is gradually gaining popularity in the health care industry. Among its numerous functions, it is vital for location and keeping track of patients as well as provides health care providers with accurate medical and personal information on the patient. This paper reviews the importance of RFID in patient tracking. It focuses on the numerous benefits such as the reduction of medical errors and enhancing effective medical care. The paper also reviews the barrier of security and privacy and how it serves as the greatest hindrance to the adoption of the system. The paper finally looks at factors to consider during the implantation process of the system. Factors such as training, cost consideration and adoption of security policies are addressed. The journey of the use of RFID systems into health care has just begun, and researchers are bound to create better and reliable system for this industry.
Patient tracking and the need for RFID
Keeping track of patients is one of the vital roles of health care providers. Health care providers admit patients for different illnesses and conditions. The patient requires different types of medication. It is vital, therefore, that the hospital adopts effective ways to track the patients and all their medical information. Tracking guarantees patients safety and rendering of quality patients care. Tracking of patients enables health care providers to know where patients are at any given time. This is especially the case of senile patients that might wander and get lost in the hospital. Hospitals have a wide range of patients to care for e.g. the young, the elderly, patients under strong medication and those with cognitive disorder (Parks, & Xu, 2007). For all these categories of patients, tracking is mandatory. Several hospitals without proper patient tracking devices have recorded incidences of patients getting lost. This occurs for hours and sometimes days yet they are within the hospital vicinity. A radio frequency identification system is reliable in assisting in patient tracking.
RFID: Overview
Radio-frequency identification is a non contact system used to transfer data form a tag attached to an object. RFIOD uses radio waves to capture and transfer data. The reliability of this system is because the system can capture data efficiently without human intervention. RFID has gained popularity in the health care industry due to its effectiveness in reducing errors and enhancing patient safety. RFID is automatic hence the risk associated with human errors as a result of faulty entry of information is eliminated. The RFID comprises of hardware and software systems. The hardware system is the tags, the readers and the antennas. Health care facilities have been leaders in implementing active and passive RFID technology.Active RFID tracks high value and items in the health care industry that are frequently on the move. Active RFID’s power integrates circuits and gives response signals to the reader (Wicks, & Li, 2006). Tracking frequently moving items guarantees that the practitioners can keep tabs of their location when needed. Health care facilities also rely on passive technology to track smaller low cost items that are not difficult to identify. The passive tags require that the readers are around an electromagnetic field as they do not have battery power.
RFID for tracking Patients
Use of technology for the purpose of tracking has been done since historic times. In times of war, aircrafts would track each other to determine which belonged to the enemy and which belonged to an ally. As technology advanced, the introduction of RFID technology meant that health care facilities could use the technology to track patients. RFID tags for patients are done using wrist bands where patients admitted within the facility wear them. FDA also approved an RFID tag known as VeriChip which can be implanted among individuals for use in hospitals. The chip will be connected to the hospital system meaning that individuals can carry their medical records with then wherever they go (Symonds, 2011). RFID for tracking of patients will go a long way in enhancing service delivery in the health industry.
It will also minimize the occurrence of medication errors. With the identification tag, patients will have a reliable source of their medical history. Information such as allergies, previous hospital admissions and previous/current illnesses will be indicated in the tracking device. With the provision of this information in real time, patients will receive prompt health care services. It will also minimize the occurrence of medication errors and occurrences of allergic reactions due to a drug. Implementation of RFID technology on tracking of patients guarantees that health professionals adhere to the standards and regulation as stipulated by HIPAA. HIPAA advocates for the adoption of effective standards of data exchange that guarantee the protection and confidentiality of patient information (Parks, & Xu, 2007).
The use of wrist band and chip for patient tracking ensures that the patient is in possession his confidential information. He is, therefore, able to decide when and to whom s/he should give the information. RFID for patient tracking also guarantees that health care facilities adhere to high patient safety standards. This is with accordance to the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organization (JCAHO), which stipulates that health care facilities should ensure they have positive patient identification. Wrong patient identification can be fatal as it means that the patient risks accessing wrong treatment and or medication. RFID identification ensures that each patient has his/her personal details hence no room for errors. RFID for tracking patients also guarantees that the risk of loss of transferable patient data is nonexistent. The tracking chip and wristband are tamper proof (Colling, & York, 2009).
Benefits and disadvantages of the RFID patient tracking system
The RFID patient tracking system guarantees that, hospitals increase patient monitoring and tracking. Without the tracking system, it is difficult for nurses to adequately monitor and keep an eye on all patients admitted in the facility. Some patient may require more scrutiny over others. This may create the impression that some patients are taken care of better than other. Installing an RFID patient tracking system ensures that the health care professionals are able to keep tabs of the patient whereabouts any time. RFID also improves the efficiency of health care service delivery. This is with regards to medication. The tracking chips and bands give patient medical history which the health professionals utilize to determine the medical care to give patients.RFID also guarantees visibility of all patients. This is especially to those mobile patients who require physical exercise such as movement from one point to the other (Wicks, & Li, 2006). The tracking device keeps the health care provider informed of the patient’s whereabouts. RFDI also guarantees patient access critical care on time.
Without constant monitoring, the risk of patients wandering off and getting lost is high. Care givers spend hours looking for patients whose condition may deteriorate without proper medication and attention. The RFID tracking device helps locate patient in real time hence efficient care.One of the dominant barriers with the use of RFID in the health care is concerns over privacy and confidentiality of information. Patient’s tags contain not only medical records but personal details such as name, gender and home address. This information is sensitive and confidential thus concerns that it can be misused. It is vital that health care providers clearly inform patients or their kin on the need for the tracking system and when it is to be used. Like any other technology, RFDI tracking system risks interference and failure hence proving unreliable to the health care providers.
RFID and Security Concerns
The main security concerns with the implementation of RFID system in the health care industry is the risk identity theft and misuse of personal information. Security concerns over with regards to patient tracking revolve around unauthorized access to personal data, misuse of patients date and the risk that an unauthorized individual can access and permanently save the patient’s information to another extension. RFID tags can be accessed by unauthorized individuals without the patient’s knowledge. Patients are not sensitive to radio signals hence are not in a position to determine when someone has accessed their tags (Lahtela, 2009).It is vital that health care institutions adopt appropriate RFID security standard that determine who has permission to access patient information. Security training is also vital to guarantee that the employees are familiar with procedures of using of storing patient personal information hence minimize the risk of misuse. Training is vital to educate the employees on the need to comply by various health care regulations. Some of the health care regulations include; the FIP principles and the HIPAA regulations on privacy and security of personal records.
Impact of Implementation
The successful use of RFID technology for tracking of patients can only be successful with effective administrative procedures. First, the health care facility has to determine a reliable hardware to use with the RFID system. Aspects of costs come to mind as the introduction of patient tracking device requires financial allocation. It is vital that the facility selects the best hardware to use. The RFID systems can be used on patients as wrist band or leg band. All patients admitted at the facility must be assigned a tracking device until discharge. The hospital will also install RFID in various locations across the hospital. The readers connect with the hospital system in which it is used to locate a patient. The hospital will also have to enhance its policies especially those that deal with patient privacy and confidentiality. For instance, the facility can select health personnel to handle patient tracking tasks. The few personnel can then receive training on security measures such as encryption of data. Data encryption ensures that information is only accessible to a few individuals.
Training
Training is also mandatory with the introduction of RFID system for tracking purpose within the organization. RFID patient tracking system focuses on use of electronic transmission of information. Training over the implementation of policies such as HIPAA is mandatory. HIPAA act establishes the privacy and security standard of electronic transactions that deal with patient health information. HIPAA covers the area of privacy of information in relations to personal information such as personal address and the national provider identification number (Lahtela, 2009). Training on these acts guarantee that the employee is information on when to use a patient’s confidential information. Training also educates the patient on the need to inform patients over the ways in which collected personal information will be used. Other that the privacy and security acts training, it will be mandatory that health care personnel are trained on entry and retrieval of information from the patient tracking system. Every day, there are new and emerging technologies that individuals have to familiarize themselves (Davis, 2004). The RFDI technology is one such technology that individual need to be trained on how to use. It is through training that the health care personnel will embrace change. Training also ensures that the health care personnel use the RFID system to make their work more efficient and free from errors.
Conclusion
The advantages of RFID in the health industry cannot be ignored. RFDI has changed the health care delivery in hospitals. RFID has also reduced the occurrence of medical errors hence improve patients safety. The content in the RFID patient tracking system can be used to identify a patient and his or her location. This reduces the risk of errors such as wrongly medication of the patients. Patient tracking also save time and is cost effective as it increases the productivity of the health care providers. Without the tracking devices, the staff would spend hours looking for a patient who has wandered out of his room. The tracking system allows quick detection of the patient hence saves on time that would be used to perform other tasks. RFID increase patient satisfaction as they receive treatment according to the information acquired through the tracking system. Unfortunately, like other technology there are certain barriers that hinder effective implementation and use of RFID system. The most predominant barrier is issues of privacy and access of confidential information by unauthorized personnel. It is vital that health facilities intending to implement RFDI ensure that they have effective measures to curb the risk of privacy and security violations. Adoption of policies such as HIPAA is vital to ensure that all employees are familiar with the law regarding accessibility and use of patient personal information. Training is also vital as it prepares the health professionals for incorporation of the innovative system.
Reference
Colling, R. & York, T. (2009). Hospital and healthcare security. Butterworth-Heinemann
Davis, S. (2004). Tagging along. Journal of health facilities management. Vol. 17(12); 20-24
Lahtela, A. (2009). Short review of RFID technology in healthcare. International conference on systems and networks communication; 165-169
Parks, R. & Xu, H. (2007). RFID privacy issues. Retrieved from http://faculty.ist.psu.edu/xu/papers/jips.pdf
Symonds, J. (2011). Emerging pervasive and ubiquitous aspects of information systems. Idea Group Inc (IGI)
Wicks, A. & Li, S. (2006). Radio frequency identification applications in a hospital environment. Journal of hospital topics. Vol 84:3-8
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