RFID application in hospital

Source: TheStar InTech (29 June 2006, page IT18)

RFID tags better but cost more.

The article discussed the application of RFID in hospital. Some of the facts discussed:

• RFID tag stores information
• Doctors and nurses carrying RFID tag readers, perhaps attached to laptop PCs or personal digital assistants (PDAs), could retrieve up-to-date information from the patient’s wristband if the hospital information system is down.
• Convenient for doctors who could refer to or update patient records from the bedside, as they make clinical observations, prescribe medication or order medical procedures.
  
• Implementing RFID in a hospital information system could help cut down on errors as well as reduce the clerical workload for nurses, freeing them to get on with actual nursing.
• RFID tags are more physically robust than barcode tags, are reusable.

However, the limitations faced are:

• No Malaysian private hospital has converted from its barcode-based information system to an RFID-based one.
• Cost could be an issue, with RFID tagging systems costing about twice as much as barcode-based ones.
  
• RFID tags cost from 15 cents (54sen) to US$10 (RM38) each – depending on data capacity and whether the tag is “active” (carries a radio transmitter), among other things – a barcode tag only costs as much as the paper it is printed on.
  
• Issuing doctors and nurses with additional IT equipment ranging from Tablet PCs to PDAs and laptop PCs.
  
• This would add to the implementation costs to the hospital,
  
• Raise potential security and privacy risks for confidential patient data if the devices are lost or stolen.

Sooner or later, RFID will be a common application in hospitals, and may be in schools to.