Healthcare RFID to track blood – LANs – Breaking Business and Technology News at silicon.com

People-monitoring pilot gets wider…

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By Jo Best

The Klinikum Saarbruecken in Germany, which launched a landmark RFID pilot last year to identify patients, is now adding the track-and-trace chips to its blood supplies.

The trial extension, which is being conducted with Siemens Business Services, is intended to help medical staff cut clinical errors by verifying blood has reached the right patient using information held on the RFID tagged bags.

Each blood bag will carry a chip holding a unique identifier, which is linked to information held in a secure database. Nurses will be able to scan the tags using reader-equipped PDAs or tablet PCs and check the details on the blood match the information held on an RFID-tagged bracelet worn by the patient.

Currently, all patients admitted to Saarbruecken are given an RFID enabled bracelet. When scanned, the bracelet can identify the patient and help provide details of their medical history and treatment to date.