With the advances of technology, what were once unthinkable before are now in complete full-time use. The RFID (radio frequency Identification) system is the current case in point. Once limited to tracking cattle, it was only a matter of time when today they had become important patient tracking devices.
Aside from tracking consumer products, vehicles, pets, they are now used to track people, notably patients who are mobile but whose locations need to be accounted for. The device has made itself not just a part of our lives, but already an important one. What it does A radio frequency identification device is a wireless system which has two parts. One is the tag and the other is the reader. The reader is the component equipped with antennas that emit radio waves and receives signals from the RFID tag component. The tag, on the other hand, uses radio waves to communicate to the reader their identity and other data or information to the reader. The tag can be passive or active. Active tags are powered by batteries and those that are passive are powered by the reader and do not have batteries. The RFID tags are able to store much information. This might be a simple serial number or it can carry several pages of data. The readers can be mobile (can be transported or they can be mounted on a post or placed high on an overhead platform. They can even be built into the architecture of a plain cabinet, a room or even in a building. Medical uses Patient tracking devices use radio waves in several frequencies in transmitting and receiving data between tag and reader. Aside from the mentioned uses in different fields, the system is now widely used by hospitals, medical centers and other health institutions in locating their patients, equipments, and other pertinent moves in the profession. Like the other uses in commercial institutions, hospitals and other institutions doing health services are also into inventory control (pertaining to medicine stocks in their stockrooms). They use the system in the tracking of their equipments on the move or during transfers. Aside from patients, big organizations are also into personnel tracking. Patients Another important use of tracking with the use of RFID is on patients. The primary use is actual bodily monitoring. Next targets are out-of-bed (and fall detection) for in-bed patients with erratic movements. The other important use of the tracker is ensuring that the patient receives his/her correct medications (or medical devices). The main point is the prevention of giving wrong or counterfeit medicine and other medical devices. Precaution Health professionals and doctors need to be informed on the potential dangers on the use of RFID system. The system can possibly interfere with critical electronic devices. The devices that the electronic signal of the RFID system can interfere include pacemakers and cardioverter defibrillators which are both implanted on patients. Incidents of malfunctions and whether or not an RFID device had interfered with the operations of these implanted medical devices need immediate action. Ultimately, patient tracing devices like the RFID system is one big help to the medical profession.
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