RFID Delivers Healthy Return for Hospital
Jacobi Medical Center's RFID-enabled patient ID system not only enhances patient care and staff working conditions, but will also save $1 million a year when fully deployed.
By Jonathan Collins
May 2, 2005—When the Jacobi Medical Center in New York City considered using RFID to improve patient care and increase efficiency in its operations, RFID became another in a long line of technologies introduced to help streamline its operations. "The hospital has a very pro-technology bent and has had so for about 15 years," says Daniel Morreale, chief technology officer for the North Bronx Healthcare Network, which owns and operates the Jacobi Medical Center.
Jacobi, which serves more than 1 million New York City-area residents, already operates a completely computerized physician order-entry system so that any request from a doctor—ranging from patient admission to meals to surgery or medication—is created and managed entirely electronically. In addition, around 95 percent of the hospitals health records are managed electronically.
However, Morreale was looking for a way to extend the reach of its IT operations into areas where manual processes were still being used and could be made more efficient. RFID promised to provide a solution, by changing how doctors and nurses interacted with patients at their bedside.
Working with systems integrator Siemens Business Services, Jacobi deployed a pilot system that put RFID-enabled plastic wristbands on patients admitted into the two wards at the hospital's acute-care department. The pilot, which began in July last year, was set to run for just two months.
May 2, 2005—When the Jacobi Medical Center in New York City considered using RFID to improve patient care and increase efficiency in its operations, RFID became another in a long line of technologies introduced to help streamline its operations. "The hospital has a very pro-technology bent and has had so for about 15 years," says Daniel Morreale, chief technology officer for the North Bronx Healthcare Network, which owns and operates the Jacobi Medical Center.
Jacobi, which serves more than 1 million New York City-area residents, already operates a completely computerized physician order-entry system so that any request from a doctor—ranging from patient admission to meals to surgery or medication—is created and managed entirely electronically. In addition, around 95 percent of the hospitals health records are managed electronically.
However, Morreale was looking for a way to extend the reach of its IT operations into areas where manual processes were still being used and could be made more efficient. RFID promised to provide a solution, by changing how doctors and nurses interacted with patients at their bedside.
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Working with systems integrator Siemens Business Services, Jacobi deployed a pilot system that put RFID-enabled plastic wristbands on patients admitted into the two wards at the hospital's acute-care department. The pilot, which began in July last year, was set to run for just two months.
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