Title: Enhanced monitoring of tuberculosis patients by using RFID technologies

Authors: Chun-Liang Lai, Kwoting Fang, Shou-Wei Chien

Addresses: Department of Information Management, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, 123, Section 3, University Road, Douliou, Yunlin 64002, Taiwan, ROC. ' Department of Information Management, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, 123, Section 3, University Road, Douliou, Yunlin 64002, Taiwan, ROC. ' Taichung Hospital, Department of Health, 199, Section 1, San Min Rd., Taichung 40343, Taiwan, ROC

Abstract: Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the deadliest diseases in the world, especially given its ability to spread through the air. Medical institutes thus isolate active TB patients for a compelling medical cure. This work presents an RFID-based TB Isolation ward Management System (RTIMS) to monitor the location of TB patients. The proposed system using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technologies supports the hospital in identifying TB patients and monitoring the locations of TB patients, capable of reducing human resources and increasing work efficiency. Importantly, the proposed management system sheds light on RFID implementation practice in a clinical environment for researchers and practitioners.

Keywords: radio frequency identification; tuberculosis; mobile communications; RFID tags; RFID implementation; patient monitoring; isolation ward management; healthcare technology; TB patients; patient location.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMC.2010.031450

International Journal of Mobile Communications, 2010 Vol.8 No.2, pp.244 - 256

Published online: 03 Feb 2010 *

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