The healthcare system remains actively demanding quality medical care from hospitals while requiring them to manage their expenses effectively. The supply-side challenge requires efficient tracking and maximization of use for medical devices with high worth, which includes ventilators and infusion pumps, together with surgical tools, diagnostic monitors, and mobile scanners.
Hospital assets are spread partially across incorrect locations, and underutilized equipment and thefts cause combined financial damage and medical quality threats. RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) proves to be a revolutionary answer to this problem.
RFID technology introduces significant changes to hospital equipment management when examining supply-side operational needs. There are RFID healthcare systems that will allow the business to develop and maintain high-end equipment that will enable hospitals to provide better options.
- The Lack of Visibility and Control on the Supply Side
Health facilities across different sectors within India, including both superior specialty centers and basic private healthcare establishments, consistently operate with minimal knowledge about equipment position and utilization patterns.
Lack of an available infusion pump or ECG monitor at critical moments during an emergency poses a serious risk to patient outcomes. Healthcare organizations encounter two stumbling blocks when using outdated barcode methods alongside manual logging because both approaches are ineffective and prone to making mistakes.
This lack of real-time visibility causes:
- Asset hoarding by departments
- Increased rental or replacement costs
- Delayed patient care
- The Role of RFID in Healthcare
Electronic fields from RFID enable automatic tag identification while monitoring objects that receive tags. The ability of RFID to collect data without visual connection and in real-time makes it suitable for managing medical centers with crowded patient flow.
An RFID system typically includes the following:
- The implementation includes active or passive RFID tags connected to equipment.
- Hospital departments and corridors, together with storage rooms, have RFID readers installed for tracking purposes.
- A software dashboard operates from one central location to show real-time equipment status with present positioning and usage information and tracking of all movements.
- Better Chance for Information and Equipment
RFID facilitates maximum optimization of hospital equipment through its system. RFID allows hospitals to:
- The system allows instant detection of equipment that stays inactive or goes unused
- Predictive maintenance routines should analyze equipment usage statistics.
- Healthcare institutions should maximize existing resources to prevent unwanted acquisitions.
The implementation of RFID technology allows healthcare facilities to monitor that only five out of fifteen mobile X-ray machines are operational throughout one particular wing. However, another area continually reports equipment shortages.
Real-time asset data enables hospital personnel to allocate resources, which results in optimal utilization. The same RFID retail technology is being used in the warehouses, and through that, the stores can prevent loss or theft.
- RFID in Reduced Maintenace Downtime
Every medical tool in the hospital requires scheduled tests of accuracy, both routine servicing and security inspections. The lack of accurate logs leads to the improper attention of specific machines while other machines receive inconsistent servicing routines.
The alerts for upcoming maintenance will trigger when hospital equipment reaches predefined thresholds related to usage hours or service duration. The implementation of this system guarantees that vital equipment remains in its best operating state while minimizing periods of equipment downtime.
