Improving patient safety with RFID and mobile technology

Abstract

Medical errors have become a leading cause of death, killing more people each year than AIDS or aeroplane crashes. These medical errors can be classified into five categories: poor decision making, poor communication, inadequate patient monitoring, patient misidentification, inability to respond rapidly and poor patient tracking. Employing innovative information technologies in correcting these deficiencies and meeting the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organistion (JCAHO) patient safety goals is the current trend in enhancing patient safety.

Accessing antecedents and outcomes of RFID implementation in health care

“…Correa et al (2007) identified health care specific uses of RFID, like patient identification and tracking, asset management and tracking, drug counterfeiting, inventory management, spare parts for surgery, blood and specimen bags, and tracking patient files. The use of RFID to track and monitor emergency room patients is discussed by Janz et al (2005) and by Chao et al (2007), while Schwaitzberg (2006) (HHS, 2006). Security issues deal with spoofing and hacking attacks to change the data on the tag.…”

“…range of issues including control of inventory and expiration dates, the reduction of inventory, stock outs and shrinkage. In a health care environment, the control of inventory used to support surgical operations is critical so that all necessary items are available and none are left in the patient (Chao et al, 2007). Efficiency includes process automation, productivity improvements, and the reduction of labor costs.…”

“…Li and Collier (2000), Marley et al (2004), Wicks et al (2006), Correa et al (2007), Schwaitzberg (2006), Janz et al (2007), Chao et al (2007) Barriers The extent to which possible obstacles reject or delay the implementation of RFID including cost, a lack of understanding, technical issues, and privacy concerns.…”

“…Srivastava (2004), Li and Visich (2006), Vijayaraman and Osyk (2006), HHS (2006) Wicks et al (2006), , Li et al (2010), , Chao et al (2007), Correa et al (2007) Performance The performance position of the hospital with respect to their competitors in the areas of cost, quality, and finances. Li (1997), Li and Collier (2000), Meyer and Collier (2001), Li et al (2002), Li andBenton (2003, 2006), Marley et al (2004), Note: the model fit statistics could not be obtained for the constructs with three items.…”

Temporary On-Skin Passive UHF RFID Transfer Tag

“…Passive RFID is emerging as particularly useful in monitoring, identifying and tracking people in work environments [1][2][3]. For example, employees or visitors could be located and their action monitored in defined environments over a moderate distance without requiring a deliberate read action from the tagged person [4]. This would allow convenient fast access to restricted areas and a safer working environment for the employee, while benefiting the employing organizations and general public by enhancing security and reliability in the workplace.…”