Radio Frequency Identification on Healthcare - Essay Example

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) on Healthcare Name: Institution: Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) on Healthcare Introduction Although RFID has become prominent in various industries recently, the technology has been in existence since World War II. It refers to a wireless technology that relies on electromagnetic waves, a transponder (usually in form of a tag), and reader to identify objects (Barrick, 2009, p.209). Its history traces back to the World War II when radar systems were utilized to detect enemy planes. Dobkin (2007) argues military relied on identify-friend-or-foe (IFF) system to differentiate between friendly and enemy planes approaching their bases. Harry Stockman’s work in 1948 prompted scientists and engineers to perform laboratory experiments, with companies trying to find a solution for antitheft technologies. RFID as an identification system was realized during 1970s, with firms like Raytheon and Fairchild creating the first RFID-based license plates for automobiles (Shepard, 2005). 1980s and 1990s saw enhancement of the technology and its commercialization for use in various industries. Its adoption to the healthcare industry began in 2004, when FDA approved VeriChip to inject patients with a RFID chip to facilitate computerization of the US healthcare system (S. Brown & M. Brown, 2010). The current essay explores major uses of RFID, its benefits, and its drawbacks in the health care industry. Major Uses of RFID Today, health care institutions are increasingly adopting RFID to identify and monitor patients, medical supplies, personnel, and other physical resources (Al-Hakim, 2007). Identification and Tracking of Resources This presents one of the major uses of RFID where majority of hospitals and clinics are using RFID tags for identification of medical equipment and supplies, including hospital beds, medicines, and other medical instruments (Halamka, 2006; Tan, 2010). Others rely on RFID-enabled bracelets to identify their patients undergoing different treatment procedures, such as general treatment, surgery, and others. Moreover, RFID-enabled smart cards have become a common practice among the institutions in identifying and allowing personnel access to the facilities and medical resources. For example, RFID bracelet can be placed on the wrist of a patient for identification purposes (Levine et al., 2007). In this context, hospitals can encode the bracelet with various details concerning the patient, including patient’s name, date of birth, medical history, gender, the current medical procedure, and other forms of data. As such, the hospital personnel will stand in a position to identify the patient by scanning the bracelet, eliminating the need of going through the paper-based medical records (Katz & Rice, 2009). According to Sangwan and Jessen (2005), RFID provides an effective system to track movement of resources within the facilities. In this situation, the system incorporates transponders in form of bracelets and product labels, readers, and a computer system. The transponders, usually placed on patients, medical instruments, equipment, and packages of medicines, are used to store details of every resource. On the other hand, the readers are located in various locations within the facilities (Tzeng, Chen, & Pai, 2008). They read the information on the tags and relay it wirelessly to the computer systems placed within a control room, enabling the controller to track movement of every product within the institutions (Glover & Bhatt, 2005). For example, a product labels with machines’ number, name, and storage or working location can be attached to all machines within a particular hospital. RFID readers are then placed on different workstations, rooms, and floors of the facility (Ting et al., 2009). As the machines move from workstation, room, or floor to another, the readers read the product labels and transmit the information to the computer system remotely. Inventory Management Today, many healthcare institutions use electronic databases to store information. RFID-enabled devices, such as the bracelets, labels, smartcards, and other tags become useful as input devices (Tu, Zhou, & Piramuthu, 2009; Brown, 2007). The institutions utilize the gadgets to enter information into the databases. Readers transmit the information or details from the tags to the databases. In effect, this facilitates efficient and effective management of resources within the institutions (Langabeer, 2008). For instance, a hospital can attach RFID-enabled plates on surgery equipment (Schwaitzberg, 2006). Each time it is taken for surgery, the name of medical staff, the operation room, and the patient are updated on the tag automatically. In this way, the management stands in a position to know the number of times the equipment has been used and frequency of its use as well as its reliability (Roberts, 2006). Monitoring of patients Traditionally, monitoring of patients in healthcare institutions has been the reserve of nurses, aided by wired sensors. However, this practice has been replaced by wireless ECG, which utilizes RFID-based sensors to monitor and transmit the bioinformation to a remotely connected module (Wang et al., 2010). The module then relays the data to a reader, which is embedded into the patient’s room, at home or at the hospital. The information is then displayed on a screen where doctors can view and monitor the progress of the patient during treatment or after treatment. Benefits RFID on healthcare has been instrumental in enhancing the efficiency, effectiveness, and quality of services to patients (Bryden et al., 2007). It does not only eliminate or reduce human and medical errors, but it also improves efficiency of delivery of services and management of resources in health care institutions (McDonald, 2006; Janz, Pitts, & Otondo, 2005; Smith & Flanegin, 2004). Its use for identification of patients ensures that patients receive the correct treatment and medication at the right time. Since every tag contains details of a particular patient, medical practitioners stand in a position to understand medical history of the patient, preventing likelihood of the wrong prescription or misidentification of patients. For instance, it is estimated that close to 44,000 to 98,000 deaths in USA result from medical errors due to misidentification of patients (Castro & Wamba, 2007, p.135). In addition, RFID also guarantees the security and safety of patients, particularly mentally ill patients, while in the healthcare institutions (Chen et al., 2005). Strategically installed readers can track movement of patients in the facilities, allowing personnel to monitor their movements. According to Sarac, Absi, and Dauzere-Peres (2010), another major benefit of the systems in healthcare regards improving management of resources. Labels and other tags can be placed on all resources within the facilities. Through readers, information about the resources is transmitted to electronic databases for storage (Morrison, 2010). RFID can also be used to track movement of the resources, allowing the hospital administrators or managers to monitor their location. This prevents misuse or loss of the resources through theft by the employees. The management can also rely on RFID to strategically procure and administer resources in the institutions (Kumar, Swanson, & Tran, 2009). Moreover, RFID-enabled smart cards remain useful as employee management tools. They serve as gate pass for the employees to enter into the facilities and as job cards that gives them the right to access workstations, medical equipment, and other resources. It thus, becomes easier for the management to determine employee productivity and turnover as well as to calculate compensation packages and identify those employees requiring promotion (Curtin, Kauffman, & Riggins, 2007). Moreover, it helps to eliminate the problem of ghost workers, who may be colluding with senior employees to embezzle funds from the organizations. RFID readers or transceivers do not need proximity to the transponders or line-of-sight in order to detect the tags. This implies that they can be used to identify and track groups or batches of medical supplies without the need to open them (Want, 2004). Moreover, the tags are usually water-proof and wear-resistant, meaning that they can be used in any environment within the institutions for identification and tracking purposes. They are also advantageous in times of medical emergencies as they can help to retrieve medical history of the patient easily, thereby helping practitioners to avoid misdiagnosis of the patient (Fry & Lenert, 2005). In such instances, it also becomes helpful in helping the emergency attendants to locate the required medical instruments, equipments, and medicines quickly. Drawbacks Other than the cost of implementing and managing the system, issues of confidentiality, security, and privacy remain the most significant drawbacks facing use of RFID in health care institutions (Hwang, Wei, & Lee, 2009). RFID requires substantial financial resources to acquire its components, including the tags (microchip plus antennae), readers, and the computer hardware and software. In addition, implementation costs are usually high since the hospitals may be required to outsource technical expertise to develop and implement the system. Since the system changes work routines in the institutions, it implies a need for the hospitals to train employees on its use, which translates to increased costs of operation. Like other information technologies, RFID remains vulnerable to cyber attacks. It relies on wireless networks to transmit data from the tags to the readers, and to the computer systems. According to Varshney (2009), this presents an opportunity for hackers to infiltrate the system and implant malicious programs that can affect the reliability and authenticity of transmitted information (p.170). For instance, hackers could find their way into the encoded information in the tags and modify the information, which could mean reliance of manipulated and inauthentic information in the institutions. In other cases, the hackers can gain access to the information illegally and steal the identity of the patients or hospital personnel, which could not only jeopardize the lives of patients, but also dent the public image of the health care institutions (Lazakidou, 2009). As Thuemmler et al. (2009) assert, it is not possible to guarantee information confidentiality with RFID systems. Every patient or employee has a right to confidentiality of his or her medical or personal information. This calls for healthcare institutions to ensure that only the right individuals have access to such information. However, this is hardly possible with RFID systems as any individual can access the information remotely (Carr et al., 2010). Unauthorized hospital personnel may access the information accidentally or intentionally when looking for other information in the databases, updating the records, or repairing the RFID system. In addition, hackers can illegally access the information with the intention to corrupt or steal information from the system (Rotter, 2008). This has generated heated debate among various stakeholders, with the institutions and the government advocating for the adoption of the technology on the one side and consumer advocacy groups and activists campaigning against it. The other major drawback concerns the issue of patient privacy, which has equally generated increased debate as the issue on confidentiality (Quigley, 2008). The tracking capabilities of RFID denies the patients their right to privacy, as hospital administrators and personnel monitor the movement of the patients on real-time. According to Appari and Johnson (2010), the situation is made worse by use of active product tags on medications without the knowledge of the patients. In this case, the tags remain active even when the clients get released from the hospitals. Although an effective way for the distributors to monitor history of their products, it violates the right to privacy of patients and it presents a threat to their lives. References Al Nahas, H., & Deogun, J.S. (2007). Proceedings from CBMS ’07: Radio frequency identification applications in smart hospitals. Lincoln: University of Nebraska. Al-Hakim, L. (2007). Web mobile-based applications for healthcare management. Hershey, PA: Idea Group Inc (IGI). Appari, A., & Johnson, M.E. (2010). Information security and privacy in healthcare: Current state of research. International Journal of Internet and Enterprise Management, 6 (4), 279-314. Barrack, I.J. (2009). Transforming health care management: Integrating technology strategies. 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