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Application of RFID Technology in Patient Tracking and Medication Traceability in Emergency Care

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Abstract

One of the most important factors that directly affects the quality of health care is patient safety. Minimize the occurrence of adverse events is one of the main challenges for health professionals. This requires continuous tracking of the patient by different areas and services, a process known as traceability and proper patient identification and medication prescribed. This article presents an information system for patient tracking and drugs developed for the Emergency Department of Hospital A Coruña. The systems use RFID technology to perform various tasks: (1) locate patients in different areas; (2) measure patient care times and waiting times; (3) identify unitary doses of medication; and (4) ensure the correct matching between the patient and the medication prescribed by the doctor. The hardware infrastructure as well as the optimal configuration of devices interconnected via a wireless network was determined by conducting a detailed coverage study. To support all the functionality needed, specific tools were designed and integrated with proprietary software applications. The RFID system was evaluated positively by staff from different professional profiles involved in its development or subsequent implementation.

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Notes

  1. Pocket computer (Personal Digital Assistant)

  2. The patient history number identifies the patient in a medical facility and permits the associating of the same to all documents generated during treatment procedures.

  3. MAC (Media Access Control) is an identifier corresponding solely to a card or network device. It is also know as the physical address and is unique to each device.

  4. Methodology created by the Spanish Ministry of Public Administration for the systematization of activities that support the lifecycle of software.

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Acknowledgments

This project was financed by the Carlos III Health Institute, Spain (Project PI07/90351). The authors wish to thank the Hospital of A Coruña Pharmacy, Emergency and Informatics departments for their cooperation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Servicio de Informática, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario, A Coruña, Spain

    María Martínez Pérez, Lino Carrajo García, Daniel Llamas Gómez & Guillermo Vázquez González

  2. Facultad de Informática, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario, Campus de Elviña s/n, 15071, A Coruña, Spain

    Mariano Cabrero-Canosa

  3. Servicio de Farmacia, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario, A Coruña, Spain

    José Vizoso Hermida & Isabel Martín Herranz

Authors
  1. María Martínez Pérez
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  2. Mariano Cabrero-Canosa
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  3. José Vizoso Hermida
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  4. Lino Carrajo García
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  5. Daniel Llamas Gómez
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  6. Guillermo Vázquez González
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  7. Isabel Martín Herranz
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Correspondence to Mariano Cabrero-Canosa.

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Martínez Pérez, M., Cabrero-Canosa, M., Vizoso Hermida, J. et al. Application of RFID Technology in Patient Tracking and Medication Traceability in Emergency Care. J Med Syst 36, 3983–3993 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-012-9871-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-012-9871-x

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