Title: Setting safety standards by designing a low-budget and compatible patient identification system based on passive RFID technology

Authors: C. Thuemmler, W. Buchanan, V. Kumar

Addresses: University Hospital, Birmingham, B29 6JD, UK. ' Centre for Distributed Computing and Security, Napier University, Edinburgh, EH10 5DT, Scotland, UK. ' Centre for Distributed Computing and Security, Napier University, Edinburgh, EH10 5DT, Scotland, UK

Abstract: This paper outlines a large-scale audit for the enhancement of quality of care and staff and patient safety using passive RFID (Radio Frequency ID) wrist bands, which link to a patient|s database, in order to reduce errors in patient care. It has been developed with a collaboration between the University Hospital, Birmingham, UK and Napier University, UK. The key feature of the work is the usage of passive RFID tags as an integral part of a low budget out-of-the box strategic patient information system which should be compatible with most hospital IT systems.

Keywords: e-health; integrated patient management; passive RFID; patient identification; pervasive computing; electronic healthcare; healthcare technology; safety standards; radio frequency identification; quality of care; staff safety; patient safety; RFID wrist bands; patient information systems; information technology.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHTM.2007.013524

International Journal of Healthcare Technology and Management, 2007 Vol.8 No.5, pp.571 - 583

Published online: 03 May 2007 *

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