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RFID Solutions for Healthcare Industry
Imagine the hospital of the future where unnecessary expenses will be cut and more patient lives will be saved. Say goodbye to the inefficiencies of the old hospital and welcome the new, highly cost-effective system of asset and personnel tracking, patient care, and billing, the keystone of which will be radio frequency identification (RFID) technology.
GAO RFID envisions such a world, as we are a leading RFID solutions provider. The applications for the healthcare industry are several, asset tracking, patient tracking, staff location, baby monitoring, blood bank distribution, etc. Here we define two such applications:
Asset Tracking:
Healthcare facilities invest millions of dollars in upgrading and maintaining expensive equipment that aid the healthcare professional in the diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of patients. It is incumbent on these professionals to maximize the use of such machines to maintain cost controls and yet meet the ever evolving and extremely dynamic needs of the patients. When the equipment needed is not readily available this leads to many undesirable outcomes: (1) Staff are then sent scrambling through many corridors, sometimes over many floors to find the equipment they need, (2) The Facility procures added machinery that taxes capital resources while existing assets remain under-utilized and (3) The patients very well being could be at risk without the machine available at the time it is needed.
RFID technology solves all of the above by simply affixing an RFID tag to the equipment and strategically locating readers throughout the area of operations where the hardware is needed. In this way, as the device passes through a read point, it is registered in the applications software in real time to be in that area. In this way, staff will know what area of the facility each piece of equipment is located when they really need to have it. The results are less time wasted for healthcare professionals scrambling to find equipment, better utilization of existing assets that reduces capital expenditures and most importantly, a patient gets the best care available reducing the likelihood of liability because of poor health care services.
Patient Tracking Solutions:
Hospitals and Health Care facilities are more concerned these days about having the ability to accurately track their patients. Whether it's dispensing medication or identifyingthe individual for procedures or pulling up a history of treatment on a patient; RFID technology is a way to manage the information much more efficiently.
An RFID system is used for accurately locating and tracking people, equipment and objects in a hospital. The system is designed to track hospital assets, curb excess expenditures, increase safety and ensure security and access control by placing small radio frequency identification devices, or ?RFID tags' on people and objects.
Hospitals and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) are facing daily challenges especially when responding to disasters, such as severe weather conditions, toxic chemical spills and terrorism. They need to manage a large quantity of patients from the disaster area to nearby hospitals effectively and efficiently.
The responsibility for the safety of patients, who may be missing from hospital beds or emergency wards rests with the healthcare worker. RFID makes tracking patients easier giving care takers the ability for fast, accurate identification and verification.
- Encoded RFID Bracelet data can be read through bed linens, so patients don't have to be disturbed when sleeping. They can be used with fixed readers in doorways and corridors, to help staff keep track of ambulatory patients.
- RFID Bracelet solutions can encode patient information in RFID tags to have better tracking performance especially when access to a remote database is not available.
- RFID Bracelet solutions provide a convenient, one-step solution for patient IDs. Text or graphics are produced directly on the Bracelet. There is no need for handwritten or typed inserts, or stick-on labels, which saves time and eliminates a potential point of failure.
Newborn Baby Tracking Solutions
For the most part, the Maternity Ward is thankfully a great source for joy and celebration as new family members are welcomed into the world. The ward staff shares some of this joy by playing their part throughout the labor and the post-partum care of mother and newborn child.
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