The Health Care RFID Blog

In a recent article titled, “5 Technologies to Make Surgery Safer” by Gienna Shaw for HealthLeaders Media, it was mentioned that there are plenty of technologies on the market that have the ability to make surgeries safer. The article by Gienna Shaw listed the solutions below:

1. RFID to aid in retaining surgical instruments.

The surgical items (scalpel, sponge etc.) can be tagged to ensure that all instruments are accounted for and outside of the patients body before they procedure is complete.

2. Biometric-activated data cards.

These cards can be used to prevent wrong-site surgeries. The cards have the ability to hold gigabytes of data including the patient’s scans, charts, MRI images and more. The patient information can then only be viewed after his or her fingerprint has been captured.

3. Electrosurgical probe.

These devices help prevent healthy tissue damage that can occur while “diseased” tissue is being removed.

4. Surgical Robots

These robots are being used to manage anesthesia when the healthcare organization is lacking access to anesthesiologists. The robots are remotely controlled by experts in the field.

5. Alarm management systems.

Because an OR has several different alarms constantly going off healthcare workers tend to tune them out, the actual term for this is “alert fatigue.” This technology was designed to prioritize the importance of each alert and notify the appropriate personnel when a matter is urgent.

Preventing Healthcare Acquired Infections (HAIs) is certainly another major problem that needs to be addressed with technology. Through the use of RFID, not only can we record activity, we can attempt to prevent unsafe practices and modify behavior. Dynamic RFID along with one of our partners has come up with a hand-hygiene compliance solution that has the ability to alert a healthcare worker when he or she has not washed his or her hands.

According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), checklists have proven to decrease the percentage of postsurgical complications also. According to Dr. Atul Gawande, author of, “The Checklist Manifesto: How to get things right,” implementing a checklist in healthcare for undertakings as large as surgery can help prevent HAIs and therefore reduce the number of patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) because of infections and even prevent deaths. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), HAIs account for about 1.7 million infections and 99,000 deaths each year and annual costs to U.S. hospitals (adjusted for inflation) range from $28.4 -$33.8 billion to $35.7-$45 billion. With that said, RFID can play a major role in increasing safety in the OR.

There is a buzz around implementing “hot” new technologies which has stimulated the demand for real-time location systems (RTLS) in a wide array of industries. The benefits of implementing a real-time solution are endless. These solutions have the ability to provide the user with visibility across the whole enterprise in real-time. Organizations are faced with many disadvantages from their existing systems; these disadvantages can be easily eliminated with an RTL solution. Example:

There is a situation at a medical facility where they have put in place a surgical supply process that would essentially save the hospital time and money, instead it costs them more.  In this particular facility, surgical implants are stored in a separate storage room near the operating ward of the hospital.  Once a patient has arrived for an implant surgery (i.e. knee or hip replacement) the nurse may remove three to four surgical implants from the storage area and place them in the operating room, this is done because the operating team won’t know what size will fit the patient until the surgery is underway.  Once the surgery is complete, the nurse is required to return the unused –unopened implants to the surgical storage area.  That doesn’t happen. 

The implant vendor receives an email when surgeries are scheduled that will use the particular implants.  It is the vendor’s job to restock the surgical storage area with the required implants so the surgical staff doesn’t have to waste their time ordering supplies.  If the four unused surgical implants are not back in the storage area, he simply reorders all five (four unused, one used) devices.  The hospital is now responsible for paying for an additional four implants that were not needed.

To add insult to injury, if the nurse didn’t follow proper procedure in regards to removing the surgical implants, the patient would not be billed for the implant he/she received.  Therefore, not only is the hospital responsible for an additional four unnecessary implants, the one implant that was used did not get billed to the customer.

There are privacy concerns related to RTLS solutions, individuals should understand that:

o   The systems protect personal information example: in a healthcare setting if a “worker” is tagged the system can be configured so that only authorized users can identify the location of that individual within the organization. These tags can only be identified within that infrastructure.

o   Ultimately it is the “company’s” responsibility to protect their employees.

o   There is a unique ID associated to each badge, ideally authorized personnel will be the only staff that would be able to associate that ID to the individual tagged.

o   Other RTLS systems will only be able to “read” the unique ID associated with each individual badge.

RTLS adds value to all businesses….

o   Efficiency increased in operations.

o   The systems have the ability to manage multiple applications. For example: in a healthcare organization the system could be managing the location of the healthcare workers, patients, assets and any other items within the infrastructure essentially providing enterprise visibility.

o   The cost of tags and initial deployment has dropped drastically.

o   Implementing an RTLS system can help an organization comply with new standards and regulations that the government has issued.

o   You can use Dynamic RFID’s ROI Calculator to view the cost savings an organization can experience after implementation of an HHC Solution.

Frost & Sullivan recently released a study on RTLS Technology, RTLS Technology: Value Proposition Overrides Costs, below are a couple slides from the study discussing how technology improvements are expected to drive demand for RTLS market.

RTLS is going to become a standard in the future. The market is expected to grow at a continuous rate. Don’t be the last “person” to jump on the train.

Wal-Mart stores have started to place an RFID tag on men’s apparel in an attempt to optimize their supply chain. This solution has been implemented in an effort to improve inventory stock processes as well as eliminating employee theft in the warehouses. The process will prove to be extremely efficient for these purposes. As Raul Vazquez, Wal-Mart executive, said, “This ability to wave the wand and have a sense of all the products that are on the floor or in the back room in seconds is something that we feel can really transform our business.” Wal-Mart shoppers will also see a benefit from this project in that the shelves will be fully stocked with all products at all times, or at least this is the goal.

As noted in an article on Spectrum , privacy advocates worry that the hand-held readers may be able to pick-up information from customers who may have embedded RFID chips in their driver’s licenses. Depending on what frequency the readers are set on and how close the read range must be in order for the worker to pick up the information from the tags, there is a risk that consumers will be taking when shopping at Wal-Mart. Fortunately, there are also preventive actions that can take place on the consumers part to ensure that their personal information cannot be read. There are card “sleeves” that are lined with “foil” to prevent an unwanted “read” from happening. The foil causes interference with the frequencies and the RFID chips embedded into personal identification cards cannot be “seen”. DynamicRFID has tested and proven this theory.

Advocates also have argued that privacy may be compromised outside of the stores, although Wal-Mart has already said that the tags will be removed at the register. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, “Some privacy advocates hypothesize that unscrupulous marketers or criminals will be able to drive by consumers’ homes and scan their garbage to discover what they have recently bought.” Each RFID tag has a unique code, if someone scanned a tag with a reader they would not be able to decipher the code, they would need to have access to the database where the identification of the tagged item is defined. One thing we all need to remember is that this technology is not groundbreaking, it has been around for years and professional criminals will get what they want regardless.

What about social media? The same advocates claiming that their privacy will be compromised are posting images and all sorts of other personal information, not limited to their recent purchases, on the internet.

Wal-Mart is a “giant” what about the smaller retail stores that are not publicized? What are they doing?

Dynamic Computer Corporation (DCC) has been named a 2010 innovator by the West Michigan Business Review for our Hand-Hygiene Compliant (HHC) solution for healthcare. Dynamic’s application enables hospitals to accurately track and report on hand hygiene compliance to monitor problem areas and identify additional training where necessary.

The Innovation Michigan award recognizes Michigan innovators for uniqueness of products, process, line of service etc. According to Candace Beeke, Business Review Editor, “Innovation Michigan is the premier event honoring innovation across the state. It’s invigorating to see what these entrepreneurs create. It’s also rewarding to see the established, larger companies in Michigan maintaining an innovative corporate culture.”

This award, coupled with the innovation award received at Premier Healthcare Alliance’s 2010 annual Breakthroughs Conference and Innovation Celebration, has recognized the innovative work that has gone into the HHC Solution.

With the H1N1 epidemic last year and flu season returning healthcare organizations will need to be prepared. With several outbreaks happening within hospitals it is important for healthcare workers to abide by the guidelines set by the CDC in regards to proper hand-hygiene practices.

Radio frequency identification (RFID) and Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS) have the ability to not only monitor the compliance of hand-hygiene but also have the ability to aid in reminding the staff to wash their hands in high stress situations. An RFID hand-hygiene solution offers a simple tool that follows the guidelines set forth by the CDC.

With Medicare and Medicaid cutting back reimbursements in regards to patient re-admittance, due to the growing number of Healthcare Acquired Infections (HAIs), healthcare organizations will have to take extra measures to prevent the spread of influenza this fall.

Is your organization ready to combat the flu season?

With the healthcare industry in the spotlight; state, local and federal agencies have been spending the past year focusing on finding cutting edge technologies that will aid in improving care, reducing costs and minimizing risks.

Efficiency is going to be the key to improving the bottom line. A great place for an organization to start maximizing efficiencies would be to improve visibility. Using automated interactive electronic monitoring with RFID and RTLS technologies can greatly improve visibility. The image below is a snapshot of a unit map that is set up to refresh every 3 seconds.

Scenario

A patient in the emergency room is being discharged; the nurse (blue box) needs to locate a wheelchair (red boxes) which should be kept in the ”medical equipment storage” room. The nurse would then travel to the ”medical equipment storage” room and find that there is not a wheelchair present. At this point the nurse may end-up trying to locate the chair for several minutes. With an RFID/RTLS system in place the nurse can visit a central station (green box) and identify the location of the wheelchairs throughout the facility in real time. This process would then eliminate the time wasted and improve efficiency.

Snapshot of Unit Map

Visibility is a great place for healthcare organizations to start their quest to eliminating unnecessary steps and the costs associated with the time lost from taking the steps.  Using RFID and RTLS technology is the easiest way to make sure that every “trip” someone makes results in the procurement of the physical asset being sought.

Setting standards throughout the industry and within the individual organizations will prove to be a solution to maximizing efficiencies and reducing unnecessary costs.

Dynamic RFID was selected as a 2010 Innovator by the Premier healthcare alliance and was highlighted at this year’s BREAKTHROUGHS conference in Washington, DC. The honorees were chosen due to their commitment to improving healthcare quality through innovation. Twenty-three healthcare related innovations were selected to take part in the Innovation Celebration, all with the same goal: improve care, reduce costs and minimize risks. More than 3,000 healthcare providers, experts and researchers were present at this year’s conference.

The event not only showcased new products, but also highlighted manufacturers that have taken existing technologies and made them more accommodating. The innovations displayed showed a strong focus on continuing procedural advancements in the industry.

Dynamic’s hand-hygiene solution proved to be a great fit for the deficiencies that many Infection Control specialists have been pained with over the past several years. The technology behind the solution showed a fit for all departments within healthcare facilities creating a great “buzz” for Dynamic RFID.

Innovation Celebration 2010, HAI Solution Displayed

BREAKTHROUGHS Conference 2010

·         If you’re looking in each and every corner of your facility to find critical equipment…you might need RFID!

·         If 40% of a full-time employee’s work week is spent looking for equipment that needs to be PM’d…you might need RFID!

·         If you’re interested in an RFID solution to simply track your LEASED equipment since that is getting lost too…you might need RFID!

·         If you answer the question of “how many infusion pumps do you own” with “I don’t know”…you might need RFID!

·         If you state you have no budget, but are losing thousands of dollars per month in lost/misplaced assets and equipment…you might need RFID!

·         If you’ve ever found hospital equipment in a storage closet’s drop ceiling…you might need RFID!

·         If some of your patients think a wheelchair at discharge is something they can take home with them…you might need RFID!

·         If your telemetry units are spending a good share of time in the laundry and coming back clean but ruined…you might need RFID!

·         If you truly want to achieve greater results throughout your facility, with a system that provides instant ROI…you might need Dynamic RFID!

With all humor set aside, these are actual responses that we have heard from several hospital personnel.

Why is it that in a high-tech environment low-tech is abundant? Some critics argue that Health Information Technology (HIT) has become stagnant as technology moves forward. In an article published by the Harvard Business Review, Has the U.S. Health Technology Sector Run Out of Gas?, writer Jeff Goldsmith says, “Today, our medical technology sector seems to have become mired in a lengthening period of creative menopause which not only threatens its economic foundations, but its global leadership position.”

The innovation behind EMRs has seemed to have stalled, why? Experts might say that this is happening due to the high industry failure rate (30-40%). With the 2015 goal for full implementation of EMRs the manufacturers of these systems will need to come up with a seamless solution. Changing the culture of any business is difficult for professionals that have been doing things the same way for a period of time. In order for any industry to change their operations a system will need to be tailored to fit the specific needs of each individual entity in order to have everyone on board.

In an article written by Stephen J. Dubner titled, “Is this the answer to Hospital-Acquired Infections?” , he mentions that it has been 10 years since first talks about the HAI (Hospital Acquired Infections) problem that the healthcare industry is now faced with and that in that ten years the problem has not gotten any better. But whose fault is it?

Many people like to place the blame on doctors, but in reality all healthcare workers should be held accountable. Trying to hold a single person and/or group accountable for something that is not tracked is impossible. Healthcare organizations need to start taking advantage of technologies that can aid in improving hand-hygiene compliance. Singling out one group, which will constantly be changing, will only be a temporary fix. Why not use technology as a tool to improve procedures?

Hospitals and other healthcare organizations should start implementing these new technologies in an effort to help change old habits and adopt new ones. Using technology to help mold a new culture within the healthcare industry would be a great start to improving the number of HAI incidents reported.

Now that the HAI problem has become visible to the public, hospitals, clinics and other healthcare organizations will need to start taking actions in an effort to improve compliance. RFID (radio frequency identification) and RTLS (real-time location systems) solutions have the ability to track compliance in real-time holding each healthcare worker accountable for themselves. Although there may be other variables involved in contracting nosocomial infections, improving hand-hygiene practices would show a significant increase in the annual improvement rate.