RFID Patient Tracking - Safety, Security and Privacy

The technology of RFID (radio frequency identification) has been making progress by leaps and bounds especially now that it is used in several industries. Business had been using them for sometime in keeping track of merchandise and cargoes. Medicine is having the best of it through its use in RFID patient tracking Queensland. 

Basically, the tracking of patients using the RFID had developed through the years in the medical profession. The main function is tracking the whereabouts of patients within the facility.

The side function, an equally important one, is the recording of the patient’s data (medical history, address, insurance, etc.). This feature is pivotal in the success of the patient’s treatment.  

Benefits

With the device, the continuous tracking of a patient inside a hospital is important both for management (Is the patient endangering himself or the others?) and practical purposes (Is the patient in danger and needs to be confined to his bed? Is he suffering from Alzheimer’s? etc.)

Tracking devices in patients can notify hospital authorities whether or not he is located in restricted areas (danger zones) or in those places (drugs, pediatrics) whose access are strictly restricted. There are monitors that are tracking unauthorized persons loitering in high-treat areas, especially in places where he has no business (operating rooms, staff lounges).

With the RFID patient tracking, hospital authorities can facilitate triage processes that restrict access to places during medical emergencies, epidemics, terrorist threats, and other dangerous times which threaten the hospital’s capability of delivering its vital services to its patients.

Main usage

The RFID tracking is actually to maximize the safety, security and privacy of the patient at all times. The reason is that the patient’s records (medical history, personal information, current medical condition, etc.) are embedded in his RFID.

This data on his identification bracelet is stored for use in his entire medical business (medical treatments, payments, medical history, current medical condition, etc.) during his time of confinement and treatment.

A case in point would be a heart attack victim in an ambulance. The patient’s current condition and his medical history will help the hospital’s doctor prepare the right treatment and medical attention once he arrives. The speed of the process is critical and can greatly help the patient surmount his emergency situation.  

The process

When the patient is taken in by the hospital, he is assigned to an RFID bracelet tag. The patient’s personal information is written on the tag, including his present condition and his entire medical history. Included too are other pertinent data (insurance, payments, allergies, etc.)

On entering the hospital’s premises, RFID tag readers and field generators interrogate his tag and deliver the pertinent data to his waiting team of physician who will do the right treatment on him. This is after being armed with information on his present condition and guided by all the other data.

Aside from his location, the other main feature of the RFID patient tracking is the speed of treating his condition after his doctors have been prepped up with pertinent data on his condition.