A single-use active RFID tag for patient location from Radianse is designed to maximize comfort, safety, and convenience across a patient's length of stay. The wristwatch-sized device can even be worn safely in the shower. The single-use tag can be slipped onto a patient's ID wrist band or a hospital can choose to print patient information on tamper-resistant wrist bands using existing printers.
The tag has a button that can be programmed based on the patient's location. A button push, for instance, might signal the patient is ready for transport.
"By assigning a Radianse location tag at admission and associating it with one patient throughout length of stay, caregivers can know where a patient is at any time. For example, this makes it faster to respond in situations such as when an ambulatory patient's vital-signs monitor sends an alarm," said Mike Dempsey of Radianse.
"If a hospital has a patient flow application from a Radianse partner, even patients' families can securely access where a patient is in a care process," added Dempsey.
The new single-use active-RFID location tags work with a Radianse IPS just as the company's reusable location tags do, transmitting continuous radio signals to Radianse receivers. These receivers plug into a hospital's existing wired or wireless LAN with no danger of interfering with mission-critical clinical applications or devices.
Massachusetts General Hospital has been using a Radianse IPS for patient location and to locate a volunteer sample of staff in the Operating Room of the Future for more than two years. Patient location is being extended to the Department of Radiology to allow tracking of surgical patients who spend time in Radiology as part of their plan of care.
Julian M. Goldman, M.D. said: "Using patient location helps us to optimize how we move patients through the perioperative process. We can determine where our patients are located and when things are completed, so we can efficiently and safely move them to the next stage of care. Patients are delighted to learn that we have new ways to monitor them and make sure they are safely moving through the hospital."
The hospital is preparing to track equipment using a Radianse IPS and will evaluate the Radianse single-use tags for patient location.
The Radianse single-use active-RFID location tag is scheduled for commercial shipments in the second half of 2005 after trials at select Radianse installations across the U.S.
Radianse provides indoor positioning solutions to track medical equipment, patients, and staff.