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RFID WRISTBANDS IN THE MEDICAL FIELD

Many hospitals, as well as other organizations, are considering the use of RFID wristbands for identification and record-keeping abilities on patients and equipment. One such company, presently in France, has been using RFID wristbands on their patients for a while now. They find that the information on the wristbands are accurate and due to the chance of human reading or writing errors, not to mention the case of the missing hospital file- can in fact save lives.

Details such as patient injuries, medical conditions, and treatment can be stored in the electronic RFID wristband at any emergency site or even in the ambulance. The information can quickly be relayed to the hospital by radio link; as well, the information can be obtained at the hospital. Imagine getting the wrong blood type at the hospital, the horror stories of babies being mixed up, and even the occasional mix up in medical files. All of these incidents are dramatic, deadly, and even costly to both the patient and the hospital. The RFID wristbands will take the guess work and the paper work out of the medical world and allows them to do their jobs more efficiently and accurately.

All of the information on these RFID wristbands is also available to just certain staff, which cuts down on the privacy issue in hospitals. Only certain staff that wear an RFID badge may have access to the personal information, a hand held device is used in the hospital rooms to read the information, more can be added with a personal hand held computer or a PDA.

Pilot programs are going on throughout the states, as well. Fortunately, the cost of these RFID wristbands have decreased over the last 5 years and so has the software to run the system. As more hospitals and institutions decide to use the technology, there is a greater chance that the price will continue to fall over the next few years. However, when considering the life threatening human errors that occur daily in hospitals around the country and abroad, the cost of a life is so much more than the few bucks you will spend on an RFID wristband.

There is also a method of getting an RFID chip pierced into your body to make it permanent. You can see more on our Verichip page.