Zebra Tech

5 challenges for Implementing RFID in Hospitals

  

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Hospitals, like any other organizations, benefit from advanced tracking solutions. Better visibility of critical hospital equipment leads to better operational efficiency which can have a positive effect on patient safety.

However, implementing RFID technology in a hospital has its unique challenges. Here are 5 things to consider for and RFID implementation in a medical facility:

The first challenge is the business pain point that needs to be addressed. And this shouldn’t be a simple desire for “better tracking” Clear identification of where the blind spots are in your asset management and what degree of location accuracy should be addressed first.

Second, what metrics/ goals will be tracked? Is the primary goal to increase utilization of equipment or is better inventory management and location tracking more important? The answer can be all of the above but setting the metrics of an RFID solutions up front will better determine effectiveness after installation.

The third challenge is the hospital itself. Hospitals present unique challenges because unlike warehouses and retail floors, there are many floors and even more rooms.  Identifying where reading should be done such as doorways or ward entrances is one issue, but deciding what degree of location identification is required also needs to be addressed. Is knowing that a respirator is somewhere on a floor enough or pinpointing exactly which room it is in desired?

The fourth issue is looking at the degree of criticalness of the assets.  Non-critical assets such as computer equipment or maintenance equipment may not need location identification beyond the floor they are on but location information of critical assets such as ventilators, defibrillators and dialysis equipment may needed to be measured in feet versus floors.

The last issue is the equipment tagging itself. A lot of medical equipment is metal so tagging needs to be done appropriately to prevent misreads due to the metallic interference with the reader.

The key to managing many of these challenges is identifying an Integrator– now that RFID is gaining momentum in the healthcare space, new integrators are coming onto the scene with little or no experience. Selecting an integrator with experience planning and installing RFID systems is essential to meeting the challenges of critical medical devices tracking.

For information on Zebra's RFID solutions, click here.