The tests started in March and are scheduled to be completed by the fall of this year.

An operation requires all sorts of equipment, textiles and accessories, such as scalpels, scissors, swabs and sponges. All the medical instruments must be properly disinfected and in their proper place in the operating room, and there must always be plenty of scrubs, swabs and sponges close to hand. With RF !, the entire equipment used for an operation can be scanned, identified and documented. n an initial test pro"ect, the sponges and swabs are equipped with RF ! tags, which are then read in the operating room by a stationary RF ! reader. From the moment they are remo#ed from storage to their final disposal, they are traced seamlessly with the help of RF ! and can no longer go missing. The second RF ! test pro"ect scans the indi#idual staff members as they enter the operating room. $ach team member affixes a card containing an RF ! transponder before he or she starts to scrub down. The card does not contain any personal data, only the wearer%s role, such as &surgeon& or &anesthesiologist&. When the operation is o#er and the team members lea#e the operating room, they hand the cards bac' in. All information ( such as the operation%s progress or materials being used ( can be trac'ed on the )R planning monitor. n addition, the system logs the start and end times of each operation, thus enabling its duration to be recorded accurately and helping ensure that )R capacities are used to their fullest. The digital display includes the patient%s name, weight, age, gender and the procedure he or she is undergoing. t includes a detailed list of medical staff on duty and where they are according to RF ! tags they%re wearing., followed by charts on the patient%s heart rate, #entilation, fluids, body temperature and so on. That information is documented before, during and after the surgery. n most hospitals, that information would be held on clip boards and white boards, and within the computer systems and minds of medical staff. n most cases, it%s hard to get all of that in one spot. &As you sit in the )R you get bits of information from different places. Rarely does the group ha#e the big picture on the indi#idual,& said Michael *eonard, the physician leader for patient safety at +aiser ,ermanente and former director of anesthesia at -olorado ,ermanente Medical .roup. )ne of the most progressi#e//and contro#ersial//elements of the system in#ol#es location trac'ing technology for medical staff and patients. !octors and nurses wear radio frequency identification 0RF !1 tags, similar to 'ey chains, which are synchroni2ed

What You Will Learn: 3 RF ! basics 4 understanding the fundamentals of the technology 3 5ow patient trac'ing reduces labor and impro#es care 3 *ocating hospital assets in real time 3 5ow to choose the right RF ! technology for your needs 3 Ta'ing an infrastructure approach to RF ! to impro#e your R) 3 The role of $,- standards in hospital systems and how to plan for long/term adoption 3 And much more

HOW RFID WORKS

RF ! technology consists of a tag or transponder, which uses a computer chip and antenna to emit radio wa#es that can be used to identify and trac' a specific item. RF ! chips can operate in an acti#e or passi#e mode, broadcasting data as required. The chips store an item%s $lectronic ,roduct -ode 0$,-1, which is di#ided into numbers that identify an item%s manufacturer, product, #ersion, and serial number. The $,- also has an extra set of digits that can store additional information, such as a product%s expiration date. While chips are used to store information, the antenna enables the chip to transmit information to readers by con#erting radio wa#es recei#ed from RF ! tags into a format that can be read by middleware software, which then

passes this data to #arious company applications, such as supply chain, asset trac'ing, and shop flow control programs.

PROS AND CONS OF RFID USE

Pros Cons Real/time data on assets and goods. ncreased data and 'nowledge for decision/ma'ing. Reduced theft and loss. mpro#ed in#entory efficiency and management. Reduced labor costs. ncreased efficiency and product flow. .oods authentication. mpro#ed ris' mitigation. Reduced human error.

5igh implementation cost. *ac' of globally accepted use standards. *ac' of better middleware. ,ri#acy intrusion. 6train in the T infrastructure by o#erwhelming information systems as real/time scans mo#e between multiple applications What is RFID Short for radio frequency identification, RFID is a dedicated short range communication (DSRC) technology. The term RFID is used to describe various technologies that use radio aves to automatically identify !eo!le or ob"ects. RFID technology is similar to the bar code identification systems e see in retail stores everyday# ho ever one big difference bet een RFID and bar code technology is that RFID does not rely on the line$of$sight reading that bar code scanning re%uires to or&. The Technology Behind RFID 'ith RFID, the electromagnetic or electrostatic cou!ling in the RF (radio fre%uency) !ortion of the electromagnetic s!ectrum is used to transmit signals. (n RFID system consists of an antenna and a transceiver, hich read the radio fre%uency and transfer the information to a !rocessing device (reader) and a trans!onder, or RF tag, hich contains the RF circuitry and information to be transmitted. The antenna !rovides the means for the integrated circuit to transmit its information to the reader that converts the radio aves reflected bac& from the RFID tag into digital information that can then be !assed on to com!uters that can analy)e the data. In RFID systems, the tags that hold the data are bro&en do n into t o different ty!es. *assive tags use the radio fre%uency from the reader to transmit their signal. *assive tags ill generally have their data !ermanently burned into the tag hen it is made, although some can be re ritten. (ctive tags are much more so!histicated and have on$board battery for !o er to transmit their data signal over a greater distance and !o er random access memory (R(+) giving them the ability to store u! to ,-,... bytes of data. RFID Frequencies +uch li&e tuning in to your favorite radio station, RFID tags and readers must be tuned into the same fre%uency to enable communications. RFID systems can use a variety of fre%uencies to communicate, but because radio aves or& and act differently at different fre%uencies, a fre%uency for a s!ecific RFID system is often de!endant on its a!!lication. /igh fre%uency RFID systems (01. +/) to 21. +/) and -.3 4/) to -.1 4/)) offer transmission ranges of more than 2. feet, although avelengths in the -.3 4/) range are absorbed by ater, hich includes the human body, and therefore has limitations. The figure abo#e shows an o#er#iew of a RF ! system. A simple RF ! system consists of a RF ! reader and a RF ! tag. And, inside of each sophisticated tags there then consists of a radio transmitter and radio recei#er. This enables a RF ! reader and a RF ! tag communicates each other through a specified radio frequency. There are three

main roles a RF ! reader plays other than signaling RF ! tag to transmit desired information bac' to the RF ! reader. Firstly, a RF ! reader has the responsibility of 'eeping RF ! tags powered up. 6econdly, a RF ! reader demodulates incoming signals from the RF ! tag down. This process slows the incoming signals down enough so that the RF ! reader is able to process the signals. Finally, after the incoming signals are slowed down, RF ! then has the responsibility of decoding the incoming signals into the words people can interpret. 7oth a RF ! reader and a RF ! tag can be easily made into almost any desired shape and si2e. 7ecause of the #ersatility, RF ! system can almost fit into where#er needs a field needs to identify, trac', and manage ob"ects, How u!h "oes a #ull$ #un!tional RFID s$ste !ost% The cost depends on the application, the si2e of the installation, the type of system and many other factors, so it is not possible to gi#e a ballpar' figure. n addition to tag and reader costs, companies need to purchase middleware to filter RF ! data. They may need to hire a systems integrator and upgrade enterprise applications, such as warehouse management systems. They may also need to upgrade networ's within facilities. And they will need to pay for the installation of the readers. 8ot only do the readers need to be mounted, they need electrical power and to be connected to a corporate networ'. What are so e o# the RFID a&&li!ations i &le ente" '$ !o &anies in the health(!are in"ustr$ )ne company offers a system to trac' surgical sponges to ensure they are not inad#ertently left behind in patients. And many hospitals are now trac'ing patients to ensure the right patient is gi#en the proper care. These systems tend to reduce the data/entry wor'load of nurses, and also let them spend more time caring for patients and automate the process of billing. Additionally, hospitals are trac'ing high/#alue assets, including gurneys, wheel chairs, oxygen pumps and defibrillators. These systems reduce the time employees spend loo'ing for assets, impro#e asset utili2ation and enhance the hospitals% ability to performed scheduled maintenance.