RFID/Smart Card

Healthcare organizations are considering RFID for its potential to improve patient safety and business processes. RFID applications in the healthcare industry are focused on patient safety (identification and medication administration), business flow management, and asset/equipment management. The healthcare industry is realizing that patient safety and medication is the most important business benefit of RFID. There have already been organizations that have started pilot RFID applications for patient and worker identification, access control and security, and hospital equipment tracking.
Asset Management:

This healthcare asset tracking and management solution enables materials managers, nurses, and distribution and transport services to:

Reduce over-purchasing and equipment rental costs

Improve staff efficiency and workflow by reducing search times and wait times for ordered equipment

Increase equipment utilization

Automate inventory management

Reduce equipment shrinkage and loss

The solution automates and optimizes the current manual processes that most hospitals have for managing their capital and rental equipment and leverages the hospital’s existing Wi-Fi network and enables rapid deployment with the lowest total cost of ownership.

Patient Flow:

In high acuity departments such as the OR and ED and in clinics such as Outpatient and Cancer Clinics, knowing the location and status of clinical staff, patients, rooms and critical clinical equipment is essential to improving patient care and departmental workflow. Lack of such visibility often slows patient throughput, adversely impacts quality of care, extends wait times and results in superfluous labor costs.
 Patient Flow solution enables hospitals to:

Increase revenue through improved patient throughput

Improve patient satisfaction through reduced wait times

Enhance quality of care, staff efficiency and productivity

Solution Highlights:

At-a-glance map view displays room status, patient tracking information, whether the patient has arrived, which staff members are in the room and if the required medical devices are in place

Automated indications of room cleaning status

Real time location of critical equipment ensures on-time start of procedures

Analysis of patient wait times

Analysis of patient-staff interaction times for scheduling optimization

Alerts regarding missing equipment in a specific department/unit

RFID Solutions:Some solutions deployed by a hospital may require a combination of Active RFID and Passive RFID for its asset tracking and management. By combining both technologies into a single unified solution, customers can track assets of all sizes and types across facilities, from a single interface, and act simultaneously on all of this information.
In hospitals, there is significant value in implementing hybrid RFID systems. Wi-Fi Active RFID is well suited for tracking medical devices (such as infusion pumps, beds and wheelchairs), patients and staff throughout the entire hospital campus by leveraging the existing Wi-Fi network. Whereas Passive RFID is appropriate for tracking small instruments in OR departments, specimen tracking, consumable tracking (such as syringes and masks for inventory management purposes) or even alerting when small medical devices, such as portable thermometers, are inadvertently thrown down laundry chutes.
Passive RFID and Active RFID may be used in concert. For example, clients can determine the real-time location of passive tagged assets (such as boxes of supplies delivered to a certain department) based on the Wi-Fi location of the Mobile Reader at the point of scanning.

In order to improve productivity and control, warehouses are seriously considering the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags for day-to-day operations. This wireless technology increases efficiency of warehouse management because, unlike bar codes which must be scanned manually to feed in the information on the computers, RF tags broadcast a signal with information about the product they are attached to and about the location of the product in the warehouse. RFID technology provides an interesting option to complement data collection and product identification in the supply chain management and warehouse operation.

The main purpose of using RFID is to increase warehouse efficiency by reducing labor and logistic costs that are otherwise skyrocketing and provides ever-increasing pressure on profit margins in today’s competitive environment. It is cost-efficient because the warehouses can now streamline several operational areas inside their premises. For example, picture a typical warehouse where staff receives boxes of stock accompanied by paperwork detailing items in the delivery, Staff members then manually check each box’s contents against the manifest. The drawback of this method is that store staff can not see what items are in which box, or whether items were missing until each box had been individually checked. Many of these operation areas might benefit from radio frequency (RF) communications technology. This wireless technology in warehouses can help establish a simple paperless, on-line communication between operations and the staff's computer.

A wireless warehouse, that uses RFID technology, works by linking warehouse workers to the back-end warehouse management application server where warehouse activities are being recorded via wireless handheld devices, scanning bar codes or RF tags attached to the pallets. These devices help employees to identify where to pick, put away, count, or move products within the plant. This translates to a better control over the movement and storage of materials within the warehouse by maximizing the efficiency of the receipt and shipment of goods, optimizing warehouse space utilization and knowing at all times exactly where goods are stored, allowing employees to improve and maintain high customer service levels. Our designers are seriously exploring how RFID technology can be integrated into Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) in order to increase efficiency in warehouse managemet.

How RFID works in warehouse:

Essentially, the systems work like this. First, bar codes or RFIDs tell scanners which items consumers are buying. The scanners transmit the information to computers by reading the bar codes and sending that information to the software. The software then interprets the numbers from the bar code and matches those numbers to the type of merchandise they represent. This allows the merchant to track sales and inventory -- either at the checkout counter or with a hand-held scanner -- keeping the store abreast of which items are selling.

Stock Checking:

Specialized software keeps track of how much stock is going out the door via purchases and how much remains on shelves and in the warehouse, giving managers a real-time picture of what's happening. The software also analyzes the data and makes recommendations for re-ordering strategies. Sometimes, they're programmed to automatically order at a certain point. It's important to note, however, that good systems leave room for human decision-making. The systems provide good information to support decisions but leave the final call up to managers.

For more details about Product & Services please click on PDF file.