Studio Press

FOR the past decade and more, private hospitals have run barcode-based information systems. Those ubiquitous black-bars are seen on labels attached to disposable items, medication, pieces of medical equipment whether large or small, and even on the wrist straps issued to patients – anything, and indeed anyone, that a hospital needs to keep track of.

But now, there is a new generation of technology for tagging objects and people, the radio frequency identity (RFID) tag.

The traditional barcode is in essence a number, coded and printed on a tag, that points to information stored in a remote system. This was an excellent innovation in its day, but by current standards it limits direct access to that information, says Siemens Business Services RFID expert Daniela Schmieg.

Siemens Business Services system architect for RFID Daniela Schmeig

In application, the RFID tag is basically an evolution from its barcode predecessor. RFID tags go where barcode tags go. But the instead of just being a number linked to information stored elsewhere, an RFID tag itself stores information.

“This gives more flexibility and reliability to the hospital’s information system as a whole,” Schmieg says. For one thing, doctors and nurses carrying RFID tag readers, perhaps attached to laptop PCs or personal digital assistants (PDAs), could retrieve up-to-date information from the patient’s wristband if the hospital information system is down.

This also saves time and reduces errors introduced by entering information more than once into a system, Schmieg says.

It was also convenient for doctors who could refer to or update patient records from the bedside, as they make clinical observations, prescribe medication or order medical procedures.

On the whole, implementing RFID in a hospital information system could help cut down on such errors as well as reduce the need for paper at such places as the nurses’ station in a hospital ward. This would reduce the clerical workload for nurses, freeing them to get on with actual nursing, she says.

Also, RFID tags are more physically robust than barcode tags, are reusable, and could be read through a patient’s clothing or bedding material – which is helpful in retrieving information when a patient is asleep.

Higher cost

So far, no Malaysian private hospital has converted from its barcode-based information system to an RFID-based one, according to Siemens Malaysia Sdn Bhd senior vice-president Alex Lim.

Lim says cost could be an issue, with RFID tagging systems costing about twice as much as barcode-based ones.

And while RFID tags cost from 15 cents (54sen) to US$10 (RM38) each – depending on data capacity and whether the tag is “active” (carries a radio transmitter), among other things – a barcode tag only costs as much as the paper it is printed on.

In addition, taking advantage of the RFID tags would require issuing doctors and nurses with IT equipment ranging from Tablet PCs to PDAs and laptop PCs. This would add to the implementation costs to the hospital, as well as raise potential security and privacy risks for confidential patient data if the devices are lost or stolen.

However, one luxury private hospital now under construction in the country, is considering having an all-RFID tagging system installed, Lim claims.