Case Study

Adoption of RFID in the medical industry has been widespread and very effective. Hospitals are among the first users to combine both active and passive RFID. Many successful deployments in the healthcare industry have been cited where active technology tracks high-value, or frequently moved items, where passive technology tracks smaller, lower cost items that only need room-level identification. For example, medical facility rooms can collect data from transmissions of RFID badges worn by patients and employees, as well as from tags assigned to facility assets, such as mobile medical devices. RFID has made its way into almost all the day to day operations of a Healthcare facility. Let’s take a look at these areas and see how the different RFID technologies are being used and why.

1. Patient tracking

RFID is being used to track and authenticate patients, from newborn babies to seniors suffering from dementia and everything in between. The technologies that are being used for patient tracking include almost all the RFID technologies. LF and HF are used for applications such as bedside care and mother and baby matching. UHF is being used to monitor patient movement and establish geo-fencing as required. Active technology is a more robust form of movement and motion tracking.

2. Asset Management

By using RFID to tag high demand items like pumps many institutions have reported fewer shortages of these critical items when required and less time lost searching for these items. By using UHF technology any critical piece of equipment can be tagged and tracked throughout a facility making them easy to locate when required. Asset tracking saves valuable people time as well as valuable capital funds.

3. Facilities Management

A Healthcare facility is like a small city. There is a complete army of engineers that keep things running and maintained. RFID is being use to tag key service points that need regular maintenance. The RFID tag when read tells the service technician what and how to perform the service. An RFID driven maintenance program ensures all equipment is serviced on time and according to specification.