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Tamper-Resistant RFID Infant-Tracking System Improves Security
Once a patient is wearing a tag on a wrist or ankle, readers deployed around the units capture the tag's ID number and transmit that number to the server via a cabled connection. The tag or bracelet must be attached shut on a patient in order to operate. If a person attempts to remove the bracelet, thereby breaking the connection, the tag immediately sends an alert to area interrogators that transmit data to the server. RFID Technologies software interprets that information, enabling the system to sound an audible alarm at nurses' stations, and to contact the staff's cell phones.
If a patient ID tag comes close to a doorway, a shut door will automatically lock. If the door is open, an audible alarm will sound and the doors will swing shut and lock. If an elevator door is open and the tag is in close proximity to the elevator, a louder audible alarm will sound. Staff members throughout the wing can view computer screens to see which zone the patient is in, as well as that patient's identity.
The original system also had many false alarms. Some still occur, Sonnentag says, though they are usually caused by human error. For instance, a patient may attempt to remove an infant's tag to readjust the fitting, thereby setting off an alarm. To prevent such false alarms, the staff can ask patients to inform a nurse if they need to adjust the fitting. The nurse can then input data into the system that a specific tag will be opened, and make the authorized adjustment.
According to Sonnentag, the hospital has conducted practice drills on the system several times throughout the past year, including removing tags in a hospital room and determining how appropriately the staff responded. She has been very happy with the results, she says, noting, "We know the system is doing its job. It's working very well."
The tag batteries have a life of about one year, says Kathie Vick, RF Technologies' marketing communications manager, but that is a conservative estimate. Waukesha purchases new tags every year to ensure there are no failures. Thus far, Sonnentag says, there have been no battery problems.
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If a patient ID tag comes close to a doorway, a shut door will automatically lock. If the door is open, an audible alarm will sound and the doors will swing shut and lock. If an elevator door is open and the tag is in close proximity to the elevator, a louder audible alarm will sound. Staff members throughout the wing can view computer screens to see which zone the patient is in, as well as that patient's identity.
The original system also had many false alarms. Some still occur, Sonnentag says, though they are usually caused by human error. For instance, a patient may attempt to remove an infant's tag to readjust the fitting, thereby setting off an alarm. To prevent such false alarms, the staff can ask patients to inform a nurse if they need to adjust the fitting. The nurse can then input data into the system that a specific tag will be opened, and make the authorized adjustment.
According to Sonnentag, the hospital has conducted practice drills on the system several times throughout the past year, including removing tags in a hospital room and determining how appropriately the staff responded. She has been very happy with the results, she says, noting, "We know the system is doing its job. It's working very well."
The tag batteries have a life of about one year, says Kathie Vick, RF Technologies' marketing communications manager, but that is a conservative estimate. Waukesha purchases new tags every year to ensure there are no failures. Thus far, Sonnentag says, there have been no battery problems.
