RFID application proposal for Hospital

Introduction

The purpose of this project is to propose the high level application recommendation for a hospital to be adopted as the RFID technology blueprint for the hospital, cost of recommended application and IT deployment strategy are also part of a sequence of deployment plan following 5-years time frame.

This proposal contains:

(1) Review of RFID technologies applicable to the health care industry, including an assessment of RFID devices, readers and support systems applicable to a hospital
(2) Recommendation of the ten best applications of RFID for a hospital using the four criteria
(3) Recommendation of the ten solution deployment strategy for the next five years
(4) Estimation of deployment costs for recommended solution including RFID devices and support systems.

Specifically out of scope are systems and the networks architecture on which they run and the management of these systems and operation systems. However it is expected that the cost estimation of recommended solution will need assumption of generic architecture which can be applied to the implementation plan of these systems.

Problem Statement

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (http://www.fda.gov/) is requiring drug companies to enhance the safety and security of the U.S. drug supply by 2007 using radio-frequency identification (RFID). As described by the FDA, this is "a state-of-the-art technology that uses electronic tags on product packaging to allow manufacturers and distributors to more precisely keep track of drug products as they move through the supply chain." The client wants to be able to satisfy FDA requirements for drug tracking within its hospitals, which will require it to install RFID readers.

When the client wants to use RFID throughout the hospital for many different purposes, including patient identification, billing, surgical safety, personnel location and, of course, drug tracking. The client understands that it will be able to control some of the RFID systems, such as patient identification, but for others it must remain compatible with RFID tags coming from outside entities, such as drug companies. The client also sees RFID as the beginning of "ubiquitous computing" in the medical field.

The client understands ubiquitous computing to mean that in the future numerous computers and chips will be embedded in the walls of rooms, in surgical instruments, laboratory apparatus, patient blood sample containers, employees badges, patient wristbands - essentially all over the hospital. These devices can interconnect through wireless technology to form a vast network of computers and sensors that will allow automation of many functions now performed manually, such as capture of billing information. It expects that this technology will be able to improve the efficiency and safety of health care delivery.

The question that the client asked which set of technologies should be used, how can it be sure to be compatible with outside products having RFIDs, and what future applications can be developed to

(1) increase profit,

(2) promote safety,

(3) improve the speed and quality of health care delivery; and

(4) comply with FDA regulations regarding RFID in drug packaging.
The client is looking for a far-ranging, creative implementation of RFID-based ubiquitous computing in its hospitals. It will also need to understand the cost of various alternatives.

Summary of Result

To drive Health-care transformation this project would focus on using new technologies and leveraging the electronic health record for more effective patient care, easier communication for hospital staff and better efficiency. Technologies to be employed will include: wireless handheld devices for connection to electronic health records; radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags for tracking personnel, equipment and patients; and monitoring devices in patient rooms to alert nurses of patient status.

The ten applications
1. Ready to Go, will provide emergency check before ambulance leaving
2. Operation Monitoring will improve patient safety by check and monitoring before/while operation
3. Surgical Instrument/Equipment management system will provide the status of surgical instrument – for e.g. Sterilization/contamination/infection and etc.
4. Patient Tracking will provide patient we will look through in next slides and protect infant stolen by real-time notification as well.

5. Employ Tracking will provide employer's location information and notification to doctors and nurses when they are called.
6. Drug Tracking is the FDA compliance Application and also provide drug inventory as well.
7. Sample/Organ Management will provide Identification and speed up test center’s billing process as well.
8. e-Patient Medical Record will provide right Medication and Speed up diagnosis process as well 9. Home Nursing System will provide 24hours home care service for special patient like diabetic patient etc.
10.Patient Guidance system will protect elderly or blind people getting lost in the hospital and provide navigation information by headset.