RFID or Radio Frequency Identification Technology is said to be the next-generation technology for tracking and data collection. This technology is proving to be beneficial, especially in the healthcare sector. Patient safety is a global health concern, and several patients die to mistreatment and improper identification of the patients and drugs.
But there’s a solution to this problem, as this misidentification can be treated by introducing RFID. The introduction of this IT-enabled new generation technology will provide opportunities for increased patient safety, operational efficiency, as well as cost-saving.
The RFID technology uses the radio frequency for data collection and transfer.
Following are the ways by which RFID technology can be used to improve the healthcare facilities:
Every day, hospitals face huge problems due to the misidentification of patients. And misidentification can be quite risky to the patients. RFID technology can be applied by including a smart wrist band with an RFID tag that can be scanned to know the patient’s information. This can reveal different information about the patients like date of birth, name, blood group, and medical requirements. Thus this valuable information about the patients can be quite fruitful as there will be fewer chances of misidentification and errors.
The RFID technology can be easily used to track patients who are at risk of going away because of their mental state, or elderly patients who suffer from mental challenges. It will also prevent the risk of baby-snatching and reduce the waiting time for patients who are about to get discharged. The RFID tag can also help to locate patients, doctors, and other hospital staff. This technology is especially beneficial in the mental ward as checking the patients and finding them takes most of the time of the hospital staff.
In monitoring the patients, RFID acts as a portable medical record. This can also be used to check the body temperature of the patients, and it also enables to remotely transmit movements and other psychological data of the disabled patients. The monitoring of patients with RFID technology helps the hospital staff and doctors to decide their health situation promptly. The RFID technology helps in real-time monitoring of the patients. According to researchers, RFID enabled badges can also be used to monitor patients after surgery.
RFID technology can also be used to improve drug compliance in the healthcare sector. Using RFID technology in the wristband for patients in addition to bar code on drugs can be used to reduce the incidents of medication errors. This can be hugely beneficial to save the lives of patients who die daily due to the wrong medication.
RFID technology is an emerging trend in the healthcare sector, and the proper utilization of this technology will significantly improve patient monitoring and drug compliance in hospitals. This will also reduce the operational cost as well as staff requirements in the hospital.