New report tackles RFID in healthcare
The Rand Report has released its requirements and options for Radio Frequency Identification applications in health care, a report requested by the European Commission detailing the positives and negatives surrounding deployment of auto-tracking hardware in the health care industry in Europe, according to an EHealth Europe article.
Specifically, the report focuses on RFID applications and how, while being useful in basic operations, it leaves open the possibility of being detrimental to patient care.
Other areas included in the report are expert opinions and case studies of health care organizations in Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, America and the UK that establish current cost benefits of RFID systems as well as possible other solutions that offer similar capabilities at a diminished cost. Other items highlighted in the document include documenting various constraints such as tag size and battery life.
While the document does warn that despite RFID being seen as a solution to improve patient safety, it appears as though most organizations are not prepared for such systems and could, in the end, be risking patient safety. The overwhelming benefit of the systems that the document notes, however, is its ability to assist in basic day-to-day operations such as tracking medical assets, tracking patients and improving data collection.
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