Tags Track Surgical Patients at Birmingham Heartlands Hospital

Surgeons, anesthesiologists and pre-operative nurses have wireless personal digital assistants (PDAs) allowing them to view operating schedules and patient records. The PDA is equipped with either a Bluetooth-enabled RFID scanner or a Compact Flash Card RFID interrogator designed to fit into the CF card slot at the top of the PDA. The wristband can be scanned through the hospital clothing, but the interrogator must be within about 10 inches to read it. Once the wristband is read, the system can pull up the patient's record. In addition, it can also access the patient's photo, providing another identification mechanism. As the patient goes through the various pre-operative checks, caregivers can utilize the PDA to update the individual's record, which can also be accessed by hospital staff from PCs in the wards.

The Safe Surgery System software uses a series of so-called traffic lights, which change from red to green as pre-operative checks are performed. Once all pre-operative checks have been completed and the patient is ready for surgery, the Safe Surgery System update's the traffic light to green, indicating the patient is ready for surgery.

When the patient is sent to the surgical ward, an RFID interrogator in the ward reads that person's wristband to retrieve the appropriate patient record, including the planned procedure. In addition, the Safe Surgery System records post-operative procedures. Once the patient is discharged, the RFID-enabled wristband is discarded.

Each documented process is also date- and time-stamped, providing the hospital with information about the amount of time necessary to complete various surgical procedures, including the pre-operative and post-operative steps. The hospital can analyze that information to better understand how surgical operations are conducted, and where inefficiencies occur. What's more, the automatic coding and data capture of patient information—which used to be done manually—frees up nurses' time so they can spend it directly caring for patients.

It took the hospital about 10 weeks to implement the hardware and software, Turbervill says. Though no specific plans have yet been identified, he says, the Birmingham Heartlands Hospital plans to roll out the Safe Surgery System throughout its facility.