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German Clinic Uses RFID to Track Blood
In hospitals around the world, mistakes are made every day. The wrong person can receive an operation, or a patient may be given a blood transfusion of the incorrect type. Using RFID can help alleviate this problem by ensuring a match between the patient and the blood used in a transfusion, Jell explains.
Daniel Grandt, a head doctor at the clinic, says, "We've come a big step forward by storing relevant patient information and patient IDs on RFID. With RFID, we can keep this data secure and use it properly."
The Saarbrücken patient-tracking system is based on one that has been operating in New York's Jacobi Medical Center since 2004 (see RFID Delivers Healthy Return for Hospital), and has been recognized by industry associations for improving patient care and security. Since the Saarbrücken patient-tracking system was launched in April 2005, all patients admitted to the hospital have been given a wristband with a round case resembling a watch. Inside the case is an ISO-compliant 13.56 MHz passive RFID chip.
"The wristband looks like a watch and is comfortable to wear," says Jell. "This has really improved the acceptance by the patients." Hospital staff can read the bracelets with RFID-enabled PDAs or tablet PCs, then access that patient's medical history and treatment record over a wireless LAN connection. All handheld computers used in the project are from Fujitsu Siemens. At Saarbrücken Clinic, patient medical histories are stored in an SAP database called SAP ISH Med, but the SBS solution is designed to work with a variety of databases used by hospitals.
Joining SBS and Fujitsu Siemens in deploying the blood-tracking project are RPDoc Solutions and IMP Computersystem. RPDoc Solutions is responsible for the system that reads patient data from chips and guides users in dose calculation and choice of medication, while IMP Computersystem developed the blood bank database.
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Daniel Grandt, a head doctor at the clinic, says, "We've come a big step forward by storing relevant patient information and patient IDs on RFID. With RFID, we can keep this data secure and use it properly."
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| The system will be extended to blood bank supplies for about 1,000 patients, and works together with another system to identify patients via RFID-based wristbands. |
The Saarbrücken patient-tracking system is based on one that has been operating in New York's Jacobi Medical Center since 2004 (see RFID Delivers Healthy Return for Hospital), and has been recognized by industry associations for improving patient care and security. Since the Saarbrücken patient-tracking system was launched in April 2005, all patients admitted to the hospital have been given a wristband with a round case resembling a watch. Inside the case is an ISO-compliant 13.56 MHz passive RFID chip.
"The wristband looks like a watch and is comfortable to wear," says Jell. "This has really improved the acceptance by the patients." Hospital staff can read the bracelets with RFID-enabled PDAs or tablet PCs, then access that patient's medical history and treatment record over a wireless LAN connection. All handheld computers used in the project are from Fujitsu Siemens. At Saarbrücken Clinic, patient medical histories are stored in an SAP database called SAP ISH Med, but the SBS solution is designed to work with a variety of databases used by hospitals.
Joining SBS and Fujitsu Siemens in deploying the blood-tracking project are RPDoc Solutions and IMP Computersystem. RPDoc Solutions is responsible for the system that reads patient data from chips and guides users in dose calculation and choice of medication, while IMP Computersystem developed the blood bank database.
