RFID in the Medical Field
RFID is now being used in the medical field to track and monitor the use of medical devices and also to locate medical personnel and patients. A company such as AwarePoint uses RTLS or real time locating systems to help their clients run their businesses efficiently and effectively. This company relies on RFID to provide its service to its clients. Awarepoint provides workflow automation and tracking solutions for acute care hospitals. Awarepoint automatically manages patient flow in clinical units, it locates and routes movable medical equipment to ensure proper cleaning, maintenance, distribution, and security. It also monitors and documents medical personnel compliance with hand hygiene requirements and other infection-containment protocols. It monitors areas that are supposed to be temperature controlled environments. It even logs out of range events and documents corrective actions. Awarepoint facilitates management of turnover of inpatient beds by monitoring occupancy, status, and availability. By using this service, it helps medical facilities to also run more cost effectively and efficiently. The process of purchasing and installing Awarepoint is quite simple. Once the medical practice develops a floor plan and its business needs are determined, AwarePoint installs sensors in throughout the medical facility which allows the facility to have access to Awarepoint’s mesh network. The next step is to attach RFID tags to the equipment and to have patient and medical personnel tags. Patient and medical personnel tags come in many forms; they can be attached to belt clips, lanyards, badges or an ID bracelet. After these two simple steps are completed, the medical facility is now able to track and locate the medical devices, staff or patients by using Awarepoint’s search engine. The search engine is simple to use and requires very little training. A medical facility which has installed Awarepoint is able to effectively track their medical equipment