The Healthcare industry has always faced challenges and pressure. Healthcare facilities cannot manage everything manually, from upgrading new medicines to appointing capable medical staff and personnel or improving hospital assets and tracking patient records. Many hospitals and healthcare units have adopted RFID technology for automation and accuracy.
Every day, health departments deal with a myriad of data manually, prone to vulnerable errors. The advent of RFID in hospital and healthcare management alleviates various departments from recurring errors and makes life easier.
So how is RFID technology used in the healthcare industry? This blog will answer all your queries on RFID and its importance in healthcare departments.
Introduction to RFID
RFID software solution is a data collection, acquisition, and storage technology that uses radio waves to identify individual items and provide real-time information automatically. The main objective of RFID is to carry data through tags and retrieve the same and suitable time and place.
Healthcare departments are obliged to maintain and restore health through treatments and prevention of diseases by trained and learned professionals. The department is always under pressure to maintain adequate medical equipment, medicines, and medical staff.
RFID technology in healthcare delivers real-time traceability to overcome the challenges faced by the departments.
How Does RFID Benefit Healthcare?
The main challenges of healthcare services are;
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Patient Safety
Patient tracking and safety is the major concern faced by hospitals. A minor error can become life-threatening for a patient and cannot be forfeited later. Hence, hospitals need a technically accurate way for the staff to quickly and accurately identify the right patient.
When a patient is admitted, an RFID wristband is grided, allowing healthcare to keep the right track of the patient. The wristband stores relevant information regarding his medicines, medical history, allergies, and undergoing treatments. The RFID tag comes in handy as it carries real-time patient data.
Besides this, RFID wristbands provide safety features as it allows patient tracking. It helps locate patients who are not in the rooms or have Dementia issues. This is also majorly advantageous in tracking infants, thus reducing child abduction.
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Equipment and Inventory Tracking
Every day, healthcare facilities upgrade their inventory with new-age equipment, tools, and medicines which can be expensive. Hospital assets are critical, and they cannot afford to lose them or face understocking. Similarly, overstocking medicines can lead to wastage due to product expiry.
Supplies ranging from bandage, blood bags, linens, and disposable syringes are petty but holds an important place among expensive medical supplies. This bewildering array of healthcare supplies requires effective care and visibility, which would not be possible manually.
Every second in the healthcare industry matters. Judicious use of time and technology may uplift patient safety standards and hospital asset management. RFID increases staff efficiency as they do not have to search for hospital equipment and improvise during a supply crisis.
