Sanofi Pasteur launches 2D bar coding for pediatrics

Launched Dec. 2011, the new technology is designed to reduce medical errors and help health care providers document vaccine information in patient records with greater accuracy. "The 2D bar-code technology is available because of the work by a collaborative group of stakeholders and the forward thinking of many AAP members," says Edward Zissman, MD, FAAP, co-chair of the AAP Vaccine Barcoding project. "Through the use of this technology, healthcare professionals can enhance the level of care they provide, increase office efficiency, and better manage product inventory."

There is a clear need for a system to record product information with a higher level of speed and accuracy, and we aim to address this need with the 2D bar-code technology on our vaccines," says Chad Hoover, vice president, Chief Commercial Officer, Sanofi Pasteur U.S. "As an industry leader and healthcare partner, Sanofi Pasteur is pleased to be the first vaccine manufacturer to bring this innovative technology to providers offices."

It will capture more product information in a simple two-dimensional (2D) scan--including lot numbers and expiration dates. Wonder when Malaysia will start the 2D barcode...

RFID for tracking surgical tools

SHENZHEN, CHINA, APRIL 5, 2011 - NXP Semiconductors is enabling ClearCount Medical Solutions to further ensure patient health and safety with its NXP Radio-frequency identification (RFID) solutions.

ClearCount has selected RFID solutions from NXP Semiconductors, a specialist in multi-applications, to enable its SmartSponge® System.

ClearCount's SmartSponge system can improve patient safety systems by accurately detecting, and accounting for, surgical sponges placed in a patient's body during surgery.

If left inside a human body, discarded sponges can cause serious post operation complications and thus it is imperative to have safety measures in place.

This safety issue is taken care of with the SmartSponge System, which comprises RFID-enabled surgical sponges and an embedded RFID reader within a user-friendly automated software accounting system.

Dramatically improved accuracy

"Surgical sponges could be counted manually or with the assistance of a barcode reader, but neither of these methods is able to identify any blood-soaked sponges that are hidden in the body," said Victor Vega, RFID marketing director, NXP Semiconductors. "NXP's RFID-based system enhances accountability with a unique read before, during and after the surgery, which dramatically improves accuracy as well as patient safety."

SmartSponge also includes SmartWand to detect sponges accidently retained within the body and a smart disposal system to account for discarded sponges.

Focused on preventing medical errors, ClearCount Medical Solutions offers an extendable RFID-based platform that provides a comprehensive solution to improve efficiency while enhancing patient safety.

"Our SmartWand-DTX and SmartSponge System, the first Food and Drug Administration-cleared RFID-based platform for the operating room, can help save patients from serious complications that can arise when surgical sponges are left behind," said David Palmer, CEO of ClearCount. "Our solutions also provide renewed confidence - for doctors, hospitals and insurance agencies - that they are providing the highest level of patient safety."

Prince Court Medical Center use rfid for baby tagging

The Prince Court Medical Center, located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, recently adopted a new system to heighten security measures involving newborns.

The hospital will begin placing -embedded straps and tags on infants and mothers, to ensure no abduction or misplacement occurs. The center will also tag its equipment and other assets to track.

"What was needed was a preemptive safety measure that would effectively serve as a secondary deterrent and a back-up to the hospital's existing security measures [for tracking patients and assets],” said Shrinita Yogeswaran, PCMC's IT application manager. The hospital’s previous system involved scanning barcodes or using ID numbers on labels to track individuals or assets.

The medical center is a 300-bed, six-floor, multi-speciality-care hospital, meaning the attention needed to keep all assets and patients secure is great. Thus, the efficiency and effectiveness of RFID tags serves as a perfect solution.

Other hospitals have begun adopting similiar systems. The inclusion of RFID tags or barcode software on medicine has allowed medical centers to cut down on the rising amount of counterfeit drugs in the marketplace.

Use TEKLYNX barcode labeling software to create RFID tags with ease.

Blood tagging

Intel MSC and Siemens signed a collaboration to track blood banks at 3 major centres using RFID since 2007. So far i wonder how is the progress?

RFID in Hospital

The article taken from The Star, discussed the application of RFID in hospital. Some of the facts discussed:

1. RFID tag stores information
2. Doctors and nurses carrying RFID tag readers, perhaps attached to Portable PCs or personal digital assistants (PDAs), could retrieve up-to-date information from the patient’s wristband if the hospital information system is down.
3. Convenient for doctors who could refer to or update patient records from the bedside, as they make clinical observations, prescribe medication or order medical procedures.
4. Implementing RFID in a hospital information system could help cut down on errors as well as reduce the clerical workload for nurses, freeing them to get on with actual nursing.
5. RFID tags are more physically robust than barcode tags, are reusable.

However, the limitations faced are:
1. Not all Malaysian private hospital has converted from its barcode-based information system to an RFID-based one.
2. Cost is an issue, with RFID tagging systems costing over twice as much as barcode-based ones. RFID tags cost from 15 cents (54 sen) to over US$30 (RM100) each – depending on data capacity and whether the tag is “active” (carries a radio transmitter), among other things – as compare to barcode tag only costs as much as the paper it is printed on.
3. Issuing doctors and nurses with additional IT equipment ranging from Tablet PCs to PDAs.
adding to the implementation costs to the hospital,
4. Raise potential security and privacy risks for confidential patient data if the devices are lost or stolen.

Sooner or later, RFID will be a common application in hospitals, and may be in schools, Theme Parks, Car parks, you name it.

Patient tracking by UKM

This was taken from Imagine Cup finals 2006 sponsored by Microsoft. There were few team presenting their ideas, particularly from the UKM team. The RFID used was passive, not active so actual tracking was not real-time. I felt using Ekahau system would accomplish the purpose as WiFi to track patients is cheaper as compare to using RFID readers on every room. And also you can also upload the actual floor plan to the system. Plus, you can also track doctors, nurses, medical equipments, PCs, PDAs etc. you name it.

Hospital Drug tracking using RFID

check out the Video by Magellan on Hospital - drug tracking with RFID

www.magellan-rfid.com/pages/downloads/play_pharmaceutical.html