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RFID for Patient Safety and Enhanced User Experience

RFID FOR PATIENT SAFETY AND ENHANCED USER EXPERIENCE

While some medical device manufacturers look to incorporate Radio Frequency

Identification (RFID) into their devices as a means to protect against counterfeiting,

there is another major benefit of utilizing RFID in medical devices that is equally, if

not more important – using RFID to improve patient safety and enhance the user

experience.

When medical device manufacturers design new products, patient safety is the first

and foremost consideration. With the plethora of product choices available to

healthcare users, verifying, validating, authenticating and improving the user

experience is also paramount to ensuring that your medical device is selected over

competitors’.

Manufacturers invest considerable resources to ensure that their products meet

users’ needs and exceed expectations. Take, for example, Abbott’s new I-Stat

Alinity product.1 According to Matt Bates, divisional vice president of research and

development for point-of-care diagnostics at Abbott, “We spent countless hours

doing on-the-ground research with doctors, nurses, lab directors, point-of-care

coordinators and other customers from around the world. We asked about their

pain points and listened to what they want and need for testing. Using these

customer insights, Abbott designed and built I-Stat Alinity for better access,

efficiency, and speed to improve clinical decision-making and positively impact

patients’ lives.”2

RFID for Patient Safety and Enhanced User Experience

Medical device manufacturers who focus on improving or enhancing the patient

experience make certain that their products are not only easy to use, but foolproof

designed to reduce or remove any potential for error by the user. Designing a

product that is easy to use and that a healthcare operator or consumer is

comfortable using is critical.

Whether the user is a nurse, hospital technician, or a lay

person using provided or rented equipment, being

comfortable means that the user is confident using the

device is error-proof. Users should not need to be

product experts or specialists to be able to correctly use

the product. The Clinical Laboratory Improvement

Amendment (CLIA) waiver ensures the accuracy of

clinical laboratory test results for simple tests. The same principals can be applied

to use of equipment. Laboratories are issued a certificate of waiver under CLIA that

confirms they must operate so that personnel conduct quality testing in a manner

which protects patient safety, complies with the laboratory's regulatory

requirements, and makes certain that each laboratory is only conducting the simple

tests that are appropriate for a certificate of waiver facility3. Applying the CLIA

waiver principal to medical equipment ensures that equipment used is also error-

proof, protects patient safety, complies with requirements and makes certain that

work performed is appropriate to the product.

The use of RFID in medical devices can be used to configure devices appropriately.

This eliminates the need for an extra step (whether it’s keying in data or scanning a

barcode), saving precious time during critical medical procedures. Furthermore, it

enables someone without significant product experience to operate the device.

Take, as an example, a surgical table4 that uses RFID to ensure auto configuration,

ease of use and detection of accessories. It can be designed with improved safety

features specifically related to the surgical table’s connections, helping to avoid

accidents, offering a more modern and intuitive user interface, providing

convenience features that help the user understand the “state” that the table is

RFID for Patient Safety and Enhanced User Experience

currently in, and ensuring the correct accessories are being used for the application

needed.

The use of RFID can also ensure accuracy when medication is administered. For

instance, B. Braun’s infusion pump system5 can be programmed using data

transmitted from a wireless-enabled PC or hand-held device, helping to eliminate

intravenous medication administration errors often attributed to manual

programming. The addition of bi-directional wireless communication capabilities

helps to increase patient safety.

Customers, including hospitals, want the option of purchasing systems that allow

them to use components or inventory from various suppliers. When a medical

device manufacturer designs a system with consumable products, their customers

want to ensure that consumables are being used correctly and the process for

using the consumables is simple and seamless for the end-user. By eliminating a

step in the resupply process using RFID, both device manufacturers and

consumable suppliers can be confident that the consumable product is verified and

calibrated for optimal performance.

Another way that RFID in medical devices improves

patient safety is that it reduces the likelihood of

transmitting germs. Because RFID is a noncontact design

and reads in broad vicinity, the use of RFID in medical

devices reduces the need for manual contact and thus the

potential transmittal of germs. For example, if a patient

wristband incorporates RFID, the nurse/caregiver does

not have to disturb the patient and can read RFID bracelets through such items as

surgical gowns and blankets.

Of course, a more traditional use of RFID for patient safety is the security of high

risk medications. Becton Dickinson uses RFID in their automated medication

dispensing system6, which supports decentralized medication management with

RFID for Patient Safety and Enhanced User Experience

various features for safety and efficiency. The system helps accurately dispense

medication, while supporting pharmacy workflows. The medication dispensing

system uses CUBIE™ pockets to secure high-risk medications of all sizes. Electro

Kinetic Technologies7 designed Pharmacy Cart Security locking doors with an

optional electronic locking system to comply with HIPPA and JACHO regulations.

The system transports patient-specific medication from central pharmacy to

medication rooms at each nurse’s station for storage in patient bins and is

compatible with multiple medication packaging methods including unit dose

envelopes. The product was designed and tested in conjunction with a major

children’s hospital to meet a fast paced, high volume, 24/7/365 performance

criteria. This chain of custody design protects high value products.

In conclusion, the use of RFID in medical applications has significant benefits for

patient safety and enhanced user experience. From reducing steps in the workflow

process that saves time, to verifying calibration and use of the proper products, to

reducing the need for physical contact, to keeping potentially harmful products safe

and secure, to maintaining the proper chain of custody, RFID is being used

increasingly in various medical device manufacturing applications that improve the

patient and user experience.

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RFID for Patient Safety and Enhanced User Experience

REFERENCES:

1https://www.pointofcare.abbott/int/en/i-stat-alinity/overview

2http://www.clpmag.com/2017/01/abbott-announces-ce-mark-handheld-blood-

testing-platform/

3https://www.cms.gov/regulations-and-guidance/legislation/clia/certificate_of_-

waiver_laboratory_project.html

4http://www.allenmedical.com/shop/spine/spine-products/item/allen-advance-

table

5http://www.bbraunusa.com/products.html?id=00020743040000000387&prid=621-

400ES

6http://www.carefusion.com/our-products/medication-and-supply-

management/medication-and-supply-management-technologies/pyxis-medication-

technologies/pyxis-medstation-system

7http://www.ek-tech.com/products/hospital-pharmacy-cart/