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By Claire Swedberg

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!ï The system, installed in May of this year,
has enabled the hospital to improve the flow of patients through the process, and to save each
patient hours of time that previously may have been spent waiting for a procedure to take placeï
Although it is still too early to measure all of the benefits derived from the system, 

 
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Apollo was the first of India's hospitals to provide a "package" consisting of all of a patient's
annual health-care diagnostic needs in a single dayï Rather than undergo each procedure at a
separate location and at a different time of the year, a patient can schedule a series of procedures
to be held on the same day at the hospitalï Once annually, each patient arrives at 7 aïmï and
proceeds through as many as 26 procedures, by moving from one department to the nextï Those
may include blood tests, x-rays, echocardiograms, sonograms and mammograms, in order to
measure the patient's healthï Since Apollo implemented the plan, other Indian health-care
companies have been offering similar programs as wellï
 |owever, because of the hospital's size, as well as the
large population of the community it serves (there are
3ï million people living in the city of Chennai alone),
the number of patients is large²about 2 0 each day²
and managing their movements throughout the many
departments was a challengeï Patients were not always
clear which department they should report to next, they
could end up waiting unnecessarily in the wrong area,
and bottlenecks were often created by too many
patients in one location and not enough in another,
thereby leading to delaysï Although the procedures
begin at 7 aïmï and should be completed by about 11 or
11:30, says Anand Surana, Icegein's CEO, patients
were often still in the hospital until 3 pïmï or later,
which placed limits on the number of people who could
be served during a given dayï




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During check-ups, patients at Apollo



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|ospital Chennai wear Ekahau T301B 

 





badge tags to track their locations and ' 


the diagnostic procedures they undergoï c

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|ospital managers signed onto the Patient Mantra system can view a map showing where each
patient is located in the hospital, which procedures for each patient still need to be performed,
and the number of people waiting in each areaï The software can also alert the staff if a particular
section is too congested, enabling managers to move patients from one location to another, or to
rearrange future schedulesï It also identifies the location of the ID number for each patient, and
compares that data against that person's expected locationï If he or she is in the wrong area,
management can be alerted and can determine how to proceed²for example, they can decide
whether a staff member needs to redirect that patient to the proper stationï At the same time,
video screens installed at each department display every patient's name, along with the
department he or she should go to nextï

The need to implement radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is now widely accepted
by hospitals and healthcare providers throughout the world owing to the huge rewards it offersï
The pilot tests are being conducted and it is already a well known fact that the applications of
RFID shall bring far reaching effects in the healthcare segmentï At times, during catastrophic
situations like out-break of human version of mad cow disease, it is important to track the
contaminated and infected equipments to avoid exposure to patientsï RFID technology makes
such tracking and identification processes fast and smoothï Proper protocols and the use of RFID
technology could prevent such outbreaks by ensuring that the instruments are properly tracked
and classifiedï

RFID technology can greatly contribute to the healthcare industry with Wi-Fi and voice over IP
(VoIP), creating a single information system that can track patients and hospital assets, improve
patient safety, play a role in running clinical trials of drugs, manage critical care assets and
hospital equipment, reduce counterfeiting of pharmaceutical products, reduce medical errors, and
cut costs, thereby improving efficiencyï

The applications are plenty and can be broadly summarised as patient tracking and identification,
asset and equipment management and tracking, reducing drug and blood administration errors
and making newborns more secureï These potential applications provide advantage to healthcare
industry in terms of tagging patient wristbands with ID and care information, managing
distribution of medications, coupling with nanosensor technology to remotely monitor patients
via implant, providing inventory control, and preventing theftï A popular and vital application of
RFID is to track surgical sponges to ensure they are not inadvertently left inside patientsï And
many hospitals are now tracking patients to ensure the right patient is given the proper careï
These systems tend to reduce the data-entry workload of nurses, and also let them spend more
time caring for patientsï Additionally, hospitals are tracking high-value assets, including wheel
chairs, oxygen pumps and defibrillatorsï These systems reduce the time employees spend looking
for assets, improve asset utilisation and enhance the hospitals' ability to performe scheduled
maintenanceï

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RFID is a wireless technology working on U|F range of frequenciesï RFID system consists of
transceiver equipped with an antenna, a tag and a reader acting as an intermediary between the
identification and the background systemï It consists of a computer system and associated
software displaying information about goods like country of origin, description, expiry date,
destination, handling details, etcï Electronic product code is the key standard for RFID in
retailing driven by EPC global, which works in close collaboration with GSIï RFID tags were
earlier used for marking cattles and pets and as such are not a new inventionï |owever during the
last few years plans encompassing entire value chain using RFID tags right from procurement of
material up to the finished goods available on the shelves at the point of purchase for the
customers have emergedï Tags make it possible to identify each logistics unit or even each
individual product and track their way through the supply chainï

RFID tags are used in different shapes and sizes and their costs have been brought down to few
centsï The tags are divided in two parts viz active and passiveï Active tags can usually be
complemented with new information as they proceed in the supply chainï Whereas, passive tags
are for one time use and only send data which is stored in them initiallyï A passive tag draws
energy from the reader whereas an active tag has its own battery and draws power from thereï
Read ± write tags can be erased and can be used many times along with the ability to rewrite the
dataï WalMart made the use of RFID technology mandatory by its top 100 suppliers at the case
levelï


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RFID technology makes it possible to read large number of items simultaneouslyï The process is
automatic and does not involve manual interventionïThe devices are always on and ready to readï
Code reading does not require a visual line of sight so it can take place even through the side of
truck without unloadingïTags can contain large amount of informationï

RFID is now generating significant interest in the marketplace because of its robust application
capabilitiesï RFID enables healthcare facilities improve overall safety and operational efficiency
because it operates without line-of-sight, while providing read/write capabilities for dynamic
item trackingï Surgical instruments and other devices must be properly cleaned and packaged
between usesï Tags on the instruments and readers on the sterilisation chambers and storage
cabinets can validate proper cleaning and help locate needed instrumentsï Since medical devices
are often mounted on portable carts, smart tags placed on the devices and readers installed in the
doorways can enable personnel to quickly locate a crucial piece of equipment and immediately
determine its fitness for useï


 


Patient Tracking: Patient identification and location assistance are often needed to ensure patient
safety when urgent medical attention is neededï Patient tags with RFID chips will meet this needï

Product Tracking: |ospitals currently have to track health hazardous radioactive isotopes
throughout the facility from storage to transport and then from administration to disposalï RFID
tags and readers can automate these tasks thereby saving time and resourcesï Active RFID tags
with read/write capabilities can be used to detect seal integrity for containers and individual
packagesï The tag can record the time and duration of seal loss, allowing even problems that
occur mid-shipment to be detectedï Asset tracking by RFID thus can minimise thefts and losses,
thereby increasing return on investmentsï Due to RFID tags being read in automated operation
without requiring manual intervention, unattended and constant tracking is provided by the well
designed RFID systemsï

Inventory Management: Large amou-nts of inventory needs to be managed in hospital operating

roomsï RFID technology can provide an accurate account of both official and unofficial
inventory levelsï

Drug Counterfeiting: Pharmaceutical companies, distributors, and hospitals need technology to

deter drug counterfeitingï According to the World |ealth Organisation, between -8 percent of
global pharmaceuticals are counterfeitï While in some countries this percentage may still go
higher ranging between 2 -40 percentï The losses reported are around USD 2 billion per year
due to counterfeit drugsï Counterfeit drugs adversely affect people's lives by preventing patients
from receiving needed medication and in countries like India, many patients fall prey to it due to
its low costï Fortunately, RFID tags can help detect products that are, counterfeit or fake,
tampered with, adulterated or substituted expiredï

Clinical Trials: As new drugs go through the clinical trial phase, RFID technology is used for
accurately tracking patient usageï In fact it improves the tracking of drug usage throughout the
clinical-phase testing protocolsï

Medical Device and Asset Tracking: RFID has a strong application potential with medical device
companiesï Medical device companies need better control on consignment with hospitals
because returns can occur more than 0 percent of the timeï RFID technology that improves
visibility into returns could enable faster redeployment since the company would know sooner
when an unused product could be returnedï

RFID also helps pharmaceutical companies and retailers to improve their supply chains, resulting
in reduction of cost and improvement in efficiencyï

RFID technology helps in tracking movement of medicines and items through the supply chain
of enterprises helping in reduction of costs and improvement in efficiencyï The movement of
goods starts right from supply of raw material from initial suppliers to manufacturing unit of
such companies and then movement of finished goods to customers through distribution channels
consisting of dealers, wholesalers and retailersï The transportation of material in cartons and
pallets to warehouses takes place via ships, rail road, air and trucksï Companies like WalMart
have successfully used the RFID technology and rose to become number one company in the
world after beating big Conglomerates like K-Mart and Sears in their own game of retailingï

RFID technology has been used by major pharmaceutical companies and Retailers like WalMart,
Target, Tesco, Metro, and Albertsons and by government departments like US Defenceï




In India, RFID will be used extensively across the country in near futureï Apollo hospital uses
RFID technology to speed checkups of the patientsï As of now, the Department of Posts and
Companies like B|EL have stated using RFID to track parcelsï The awareness of RFID
application is catching up and bar codes shall soon be replaced by far superior and potent
technology like RFID with industries, utilities and service organisations like hospitalsï