Baby Tracking with RFID

Infant tracking with RFID is becoming more and more common as hospitals in today’s competitive environment realize the benefits. At the same time, they can give parents the peace of mind that their babies are safe at all times. (PDF)

RFID can answer the following questions in real-time:

Where is the baby?

• Ensures that each baby stays in secured locations by strategically locating RFID readers
at doorways and elevators . When a baby’s RFID signal is picked up by a reader in a restricted
area, the system notifies the staff and security in addition to locking down all doors in the facility.
• Can determine whether baby is in the mother’s room, the nursery, etc.

Who is in contact with the baby?

• RFID can provide visibility as to the contact each baby has with any number of individuals,
including clinical staff, parents and visitors. It can establish this using the associations of more than
one RFID tag being picked up by the same reader at the same time.

What treatment and medications has each baby received? Who were the attending clinicians? When was the treatment provided, etc?

• Using RFID, the chain of contact and location is established and continuously tracked for each
child during their time in the hospital.

Through this one application of a patient
tracking solution, hospitals will:

IMPROVE PATIENT CARE
• Improve Customer Service
• Ensure Positive Identification
• Integrate information with EHR
• Track babies’ contact with staff
• Monitor babies’ treatment and results

REDUCE COSTS
• Avoid legal ramification of parent trauma
• Eliminate medical errors and ADEs

MINIMIZE RISK
• Prevent child abduction
• Prevent identification errors
• Avoid non-authorized contact with babies

And once the infrastructure is in place, it is easy and relatively inexpensive to expand the tracking capabilities to include other patients, assets, inventory, medication and lab specimens – and virtually anything else.

Dynamic also provides Change Management Support for staff during the transition to RFID. We understand that change is difficult and want to make it as easy as possible for staff to adapt to the
enhanced and streamlined processes.

Call Ralph Wagner, RFID Solutions Manager, for more information at (866) 257-2111.

DCC provides RFID solutions for health care together with Change Management Support (CMS) to facilitate education, communication and transparency throughout the RFID adoption process.
Our scalable RFID solutions improve patient care, reduce costs, minimize risks and are interoperable with your existing systems.

Change Management Support for Health Care RFID Adoption

New IT initiatives often fail due to lack of preparedness for cultural change. Disgruntled staff can be a major hindrance to the successful integration of new technology or processes into any organization. RFID adoption in the health care environment is no exception.

While RFID can improve competitiveness, streamline and automate information processing and eliminate human error – among many other advantages – its implementation is in danger of being a failure, or at the very least a sketchy venture, if the end-users are not on board.

Employees must be introduced to change in a gradual, non-threatening and transparent manner to minimize resistance. Emphasis must be shifted from bureaucracy and hierarchy in the organization to include all stakeholders, and end-users must be included in the process in order for it to prosper.

The process of acculturation occurs when two or more cultures amalgamate in a way that changes the culture patterns of both original groups. The five stages of acculturation need to be fostered in the adoption of new technology in order to mitigate the inevitable. Facilitating the stages and addressing the issues that arise at each stage is useful to usher in RFID in health care facilities with optimal results. The stages are as follows:

Initiation – introduction of the technology
Fascination – seeing the benefits of integrating the technology
Disenchantment – annoyance of and resistance to the changes
Mental Isolation – wishing to return to the familiar system
Adjustment and recovery – acceptance of the new system

DCC’s Change Management Support (CMS) offering addresses each stage and incorporates them in the implementation of RFID into health care environments. By facilitating informational workshops, we establish the groundwork for a successful undertaking.
We understand that organizational change is difficult. We provide a positive experience for management and staff by providing CMS for all involved. CMS is a channel for education, communication and transparency that minimizes end-user resistance to ensure optimal results of RFID implementation. Download PDF

For more information on CMS and RFID in Health Care, contact DCC at 866-257-2111.

Sources of acculturation definitions:

Managing emerging technology and organizational transformation: An acculturative analysis by Pan, L.P.; Pan, G & Devadoss, P.R. 2008

The Assessment of Acculturation in The Multicultural handbook for School Psychologists. Erlbaum Assoc. NY 2006

Planning Surgery? Bring a Sharpie - Well Blog - NYTimes.com#comment-71591#comment-71591

Planning Surgery? Bring a Sharpie - Well Blog - NYTimes.com#comment-71591#comment-71591: "Contamination from marking pens should be the least of a patient’s worries. Making sure you get the right surgery on the right body part is a much bigger concern, and making sure you don’t get a hospital acquired infection due to lack of handwashing should be right up there at the top of the list.
Pay close attention: Compliance for hand hygiene in hospitals is still only about 50% according to an article in Hospitals & Health Systems October 2008 issue.
Take an active role in your care and ask clinicians to wash their hands if you didn’t see it happen with your own eyes. It might save you from an HAI and save a few of the 5 BILLION dollars HAIs cost the industry annually.
— dcc-online.com"

Health Care, RFID & Change Management

One organizational factor rarely discussed in the adoption of emerging technologies is managing cultural change.

People are required to make the technology work, and it's people that determine whether the implementation is a total success or total failure. From research and experience, we know that people are resistant to change. Many hours and dollars are lost while staff initially reject the technology thrust upon them as they try to carry out their day to day duties.

Does anyone care what I think?
I liked the old way better.
I don't like feeling like "big brother" is watching me.

As employees ruminate on these types of concerns, morale takes a nosedive and productivity and efficiency are negatively affected. This is counterproductive to the purpose of implementing new processes in the first place.

How do you ensure that your project won't fail due to lack of preparedness for this type of reaction?

Stay tuned to tomorrow's blog for an article on Change Management Support (CMS) for RFID adoption in health care.

DCC understands that organizational change is difficult. We provide a positive experience for management and staff by providing CMS for all involved. CMS is a channel for education, communication and transparency that minimizes end-user resistance and ensures optimal results of RFID implementation.

Preventing HAIs with RFID

In response to H&HN’s online article Preventing Infections at the Hospital, in the October issue, I would like to discuss the critical role that health care IT, and Radio Frequency Identification in particular, can play in creating and maintaining a culture of safety.

Hand-washing campaigns in and of themselves have not been incredibly successful, as evidenced by the 50 percent compliance rate reported in Lee Ann Runy’s piece. With the help of RFID technologies, clinicians and patients can be required to wash their hands prior to treating a patient in a way that, among other things, a) encourages a culture of safety by requiring routine actions to take place in a certain order; and, b) provides a mechanism for timely reporting and accountability.

RFID has been described as an “Internet of Things,” to convey the concept of how it works. It is able to automatically identify, locate and provide very specific information about objects and people with the use of radio broadcasting technologies. Tags, which are affixed to or embedded in objects, emit a radio frequency which is picked up by strategically placed antennae/readers that transmit the information on the identity and location of the object to a database. In health care settings, it is being used to track a variety of things including inventory, assets, staff & patients, pharmaceuticals and lab specimens.

In the case of hand hygiene, Ms Runy made some very good points that I will briefly address:

1. The cost of hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) soars into the BILLIONS of dollars annually.

2. Cultural barriers inhibit infection control, and lack of shared accountability impedes the adoption of a culture of safety.

3. Lack of credible and timely information continues to be a problem in addressing the issue.

4. Health care information technology has largely neglected the infection control arena.

5. Practitioners spend a great deal of time tracking and reporting metrics, rather than undertaking prevention measures.

RFID technologies can simultaneously address each of these points in a cost-effective, timely and accurate manner.

Imagine for a moment that clinicians were required wash their hands and apply hand sanitizer prior to coming into direct contact with patients to complete their purpose, whether it is medication dispensing or surgical procedures. If they did not wash their hands prior to approaching the patient’s bedside they would be warned. If they did not heed the warning their supervisor and/or quality control officer would immediately and automatically receive an email reporting the incident. This is possible now, and is just one simple example of an inexpensive application of RFID technology that could potentially save the industry billions of dollars. Let me explain how this would work.

Doctors’ badges would have an embedded tag or label affixed to them. Strategically located readers in bathrooms, at sinks, doorways and patient beds or patient wristbands would pick up the signal from the badge when within range. The range could be very close for the sinks, such that the clinician would have to actually touch the faucet in order for it to pick up the signal, while for the beds (or patient wristbands) a wider range could be set up, perhaps a 5 foot radius. A rule would be set in the system that would signal a notification of some type to be prompted if the reader near the bed/wristband picks up the signal without the ID badge first being sensed by the reader at the sink (or in the bathroom). The warning could be a flashing light, a message appearing on a monitor, or another action that is set by the system rules. A time rule could be set up to require that within one minute of the warning, the ID badge must be read by the sink reader, or an immediate report of the lapse in procedure would be sent to whomever, and would be entered into the incident reporting database, the patient’s EHR and/or any other health information system.

This is a simple example of how evidence-based, health care IT can be applied to:

1. Prevent many HAIs and the cost associated with them.

2. Foster and maintain a culture of safety with shared accountability.

3. Provide real-time, accurate information on compliance and violations.

4. Manage infection control through evidence-based practices supported by information technology.

5. Free infection control practitioners from manually tracking and reporting metrics, allowing them instead to focus on more ways to enhance safety measures.

This, again, is just one small application of RFID in health care that would yield vast results immediately upon installation. The ROI is rapidly realized through cost savings, risk reduction and improved patient care. And, once an RFID infrastructure is in place, it can be expanded to include various other areas where health care providers commonly experience “pains” that can be costly and inefficient.

Some of these pains include, medication errors, procedure errors, inefficiency of facility and equipment use, overstocking of medication and supplies, lack of visibility into patient flow processes, asset utilization and location, loss due to shrinkage, and the list goes on.

Perhaps those who make decisions about applications of IT in health care settings should reconsider the role IT can play in facilitating safe practices that result in improved patient care, reduced costs and minimized risks. All stakeholders benefit from a safer, more efficient and more economical health care system. Download PDF

For more information on Health Care RFID, contact Dynamic at www.dcc-online.com/rfid, or call toll free: 866-257-2111.


DCC provides scalable RFID solutions that meet three key health care objectives: improving patient care, reducing costs and minimizing risks. Our solutions deliver rapid ROI on your nominal investment by integrating RFID technologies with your existing systems to automate operations and eliminate error.

DCC selects the best RFID hardware, software and tags in functionality and value, for the health care environment. With no vested interest in any particular technology or brand, you can rest assured that we have the right prescription to eliminate the "pains" in health care.

Addressing Patient Flow Woes: Patient & Staff Tracking with RFID

Poor patient flow is a problem for hospitals, negatively affecting productivity to meet patient demand. Eighty-nine percent of hospital executives expressed this sentiment in a new survey. Healthcare IT is the solution according to most of the 200 health care executives surveyed. Here are a few more interesting facts from the study that were highlighted in a recent article from Healthcare IT News:

88% said IMPROVED PRODUCTIVITY and EFFICIENCY are key to meeting patient demand
56% do not have a patient flow system
94% are implementing manual process to improve the problem
67% are planning to invest in health care IT for patient tracking
62% are considering bar coding solutions
29% are considering RFID, while 73% are considering various technologies including (non-specific) patient tracking software, 38%, inpatient scheduling modules, 34% and other technologies, 12%

The reasons they cite for poor patient flow include (67%) poor communication, (37%) ineffective scheduling of activities and resources, (36%) lack of beds, (34%) lack of staff to facilitate patient flow, and (32%) poor centralized knowledge about the location and status of patients.

This study confirms what most in the industry already knew from qualitative analysis and anecdotal observation.

It’s surprising that of the technologies being considered by these executives, only 29% are considering RFID technology specifically. RFID would seem to be a more popular preference given a number of factors, including:

It can incorporate and capitalize on the systems and infrastructure already in place
It’s scalable and flexible once the foundation is built
It can encompass barcoding processes and enhance barcoding where it is already in place
Offers automaticity and synchronicity unparalleled by other technologies
Increases staff productivity and efficiency by freeing them from many manual processes
ROI is compounded in a way that is not possible with the more narrowly focused technologies

With the issue of staff productivity and efficiency, it would seem counterproductive to implement manual processes to address the problem. Through RFID hospitals are able to better track patients and staff, and provide the transparent visibility throughout the patient flow process that is so desperately needed.

RFID effectively addresses ALL of the reasons listed above in reference to what causes poor patient flow.

POOR COMMUNICATION:
RFID enhances and automates communication throughout not only the hospital, but across the entire continuum of care.

INEFFECTIVE SCHEDULING OF ACTIVITIES AND RESOURCES
RFID provides real-time location information (RTL) of staff, patients, assets and inventory, and can be integrated with the scheduling software, email/paging system or other systems already in place.

LACK OF STAFF TO FACILITATE PATIENT FLOW
RFID frees up staff from the manual processes and allows them to be more productive and efficient in their primary roles.

POOR CENTRALIZED KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE LOCATION AND STATUS OF PATIENTS
RFID provides RTL(S) of the location and status of patients, making the patients’ status continuously available to health care providers and family members.

Health care executives should more carefully examine the options on the table for patient tracking, and reconsider RFID for this and other health care tracking purposes, like asset tracking and maintenance, inventory management, medication tracking and lab and sample tracking. RFID is a solution that can simultaneously address all of these areas in a cost-effective and efficient way.

For more information on Health Care RFID, contact Dynamic at www.dcc-online.com/rfid, or call toll free: 866-257-2111. You can also download information in a one-page PDF.

DCC provides scalable RFID solutions that meet three key health care objectives: improving patient care, reducing costs and minimizing risks. Our solutions deliver rapid ROI on your nominal investment by integrating RFID technologies with your existing systems to automate operations and eliminate error.

DCC selects the best RFID hardware, software and tags in functionality and value, for the health care environment. With no vested interest in any particular technology or brand, you can rest assured that we have the right prescription to eliminate the "pains" in health care.

Medication Error

More than 7000 people are killed each year as a result of medication error1. Preventable adverse drug events (ADEs) injure and kill thousands of patients each year, and can cost upwards of $2 billion in direct hospital costs alone2. Medical insurers – both public and private – are increasingly responding by denying payment to providers who have made avoidable errors3.

Improvements in health care IT can help eliminate many types of ADEs, including that involving medication management2, 4-7. Medication Tracking and Inventory Management via RFID allow health care providers to:

• Improve patient care
• Reduce Costs, and
• Minimize Risk.

DCC’s Medication Tracking solution enables health care entities to monitor medication, equipment and supplies in real-time, addressing many industry “pains.”

ADEs can be largely eliminated from health care environments with the implementation of RFID medical tracking technology.

Our solutions offer interoperability with the software and systems you already have in place. This allows a seamless integration of information that:

• Avoids costly overstocking
• Eliminates errors
• Improves utilization of inventory
• Increases staff efficiency
• Links medication with staff and patients
• Tracks medication in real-time

The system can notify the proper personnel when:

• Expiry dates are impending
• Medication or supplies are missing
• Reordering is necessary
• Security is compromised
• Storing conditions are not optimal

The customer satisfaction, patient safety, staff efficiency and cost savings implications of medication tracking are substantial. Advantages are realized on many different levels of the health care organization once optimal visibility and management of medication inventory is facilitated via RFID.

Lack of funds, budget cuts and staff shortages are making it increasingly difficult for health care providers to achieve the three critical objectives of Improving Patient Care, Reducing Costs and Minimizing Risks. DCC has identified these key objectives with a thorough understanding of the unique challenges presented in the health care sphere. We have designed our RFID solutions to specifically address these challenges, or pains.

The cost savings achieved with medication tracking are manifold. This fact is driving RFID toward the norm in health care. The industry is becoming progressively competitive a greater proportion of health care providers realize these savings and advantages in the face of increasingly difficult economic times.

An example of the compounding benefits of just one of the many facets of medication tracking with RFID:

Medication can be linked with patients:

• Avoids legal risks of errors
• EHRs can be updated automatically, enhancing communication across the continuation of care
• Eliminates both stashing and stealing, or “shrinkage”
• Improves satisfaction, safety and care of patients
• Lowers some insurance premiums
• Eliminates risks of ADEs involving: patient identity, drug type, dosage, frequency and interactions
• Reducing staff time needed for accounts receivable
• Shortens billing cycle as the system can automatically initiate billing of medication dispensed to patients

The cost of implementing RFID to track medications is exponentially recuperated. ROI is rapidly realized along with the additional financial benefits of having the technology in place.

We are invested in the success of your project and will work with you from concept to testing, to full implementation of your medication tracking solution. DCC has an impeccable record as a systems integrator, meeting every client’s unique needs and guaranteeing their satisfaction.

Since 1979, we have demonstrated superior customer service and technical knowledge in providing IT solutions to business enterprises. We invite you to learn more about how we can apply our expertise to enhance the processes and systems in your organization.

1. Hampton T. Medication Errors. JAMA. July 26, 2006 2006;296(4):384-.
2. Cescon DW, Etchells E. Barcoded Medication Administration: A Last Line of Defense. JAMA. May 14, 2008 2008;299(18):2200-2202.
3. Mitka M. Public, Private Insurers Refusing to Pay Hospitals for Costs of Avoidable Errors. JAMA. June 4, 2008 2008;299(21):2495-2496.
4. Macario A, Morris D, Morris S. Initial Clinical Evaluation of a Handheld Device for Detecting Retained Surgical Gauze Sponges Using Radiofrequency Identification Technology. Arch Surg. July 1, 2006 2006;141(7):659-662.
5. Ursprung R, Gray JE, Edwards WH, et al. Real time patient safety audits: improving safety every day. Qual Saf Health Care. August 1, 2005 2005;14(4):284-289.
6. Szekendi MK, Sullivan C, Bobb A, et al. Active surveillance using electronic triggers to detect adverse events in hospitalized patients. Qual Saf Health Care. June 1, 2006 2006;15(3):184-190.
7. Franklin BD, O'Grady K, Donyai P, Jacklin A, Barber N. The impact of a closed-loop electronic prescribing and administration system on prescribing errors, administration errors and staff time: a before-and-after study. Qual Saf Health Care. August 1, 2007 2007;16(4):279-284.

DCC provides scalable RFID solutions that meet three key health care objectives: improving patient care, reducing costs and minimizing risks. Our solutions deliver rapid ROI on your nominal investment by integrating RFID technologies with your existing systems to automate operations and eliminate error.

DCC selects the best RFID hardware, software and tags in functionality and value, for the health care environment. With no vested interest in any particular technology or brand, you can rest assured that we have the right prescription to eliminate the "pains" in health care.

Creating a culture of safety in health care with RFID

The prevalence of medical error in the world, and even in the United States is shocking, and increasing over time according to reports. With RFID though, the conditions and multiple steps/checkpoints that are conducive to human error are dramatically mitigated, and many types of errors and risks can be eliminated altogether.

• Reduced Risk
• Improves Patient Care, and
• Reduces Costs

The combination of these factors optimizes the health care environment for patient safety and staff efficiency. Consider these facts from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ):

"Even using the lower estimate [44,000, compared to the higher estimate of up to 98,000], this would make medical errors the eighth leading cause of death in this country—higher than motor vehicle accidents (43,458), breast cancer (42,297), or AIDS (16,516). About 7,000 people per year are estimated to die from medication errors alone—about 16 percent more deaths than the number attributable to work-related injuries¹".

It is suspected that these are both modest estimates, since many errors go unreported^{2, 3}. What's more --most of these errors can be prevented¹:

"One of the landmark studies on medical errors indicated 70 percent of adverse events found in a review of 1,133 medical records were preventable; 6 percent were potentially preventable; and 24 percent were not preventable.

"A study … based on a chart review of 15,000 medical records in Colorado and Utah, found that 54 percent of surgical errors were preventable¹".

Medical insurers – both public and private – are increasingly reluctant to pay for these errors. Medicaid leads the efforts to reduce error with their release of a list of common, preventable errors they will no longer pay for⁴, encouraging providers to step up their efforts to improve.

But who is to blame?

The AHRQ states that it is not the individuals who are faulty, but the systems in place that present so many opportunities for errors to occur and inadequate opportunities for them to be recognized and rectified prior to reaching the patient.

The Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO)has recommended improvements to these faulty systems, to raise the standards in patient safety⁵. Among the 16 2008 National Patient Safety Goals⁵ are the following:

• Improve the accuracy of patient identification
• Improve the effectiveness of communication among caregivers
• Improve the safety of using medications
• Accurately and completely reconcile medications across the continuum of care
• Reduce the risk of patient harm resulting from falls
• Improve recognition and response to changes in a patient's condition

Universal Protocol steps

• Pre-procedure verification
• Marking procedure site
• Performing a time-out

Information Technology improvements can address at least these seven goals that promote a culture of safety in health care. Studies that have been done on the use of health care IT implementation demonstrate improvements in the safety of patients and staff, improved quality of care, and increased productivity of clinicians.

RFID, specifically, addresses these factors and has virtually limitless applications once the infrastructure is in place. Automating many of these steps greatly reduces the opportunity for medical error through the correct identification of patients and staff, real-time transparency across the continuum of care, real-time location and maintenance management of assets and inventory.

Improve the accuracy of patient identification

RFID wrist bands, handheld readers accurately identify patients every time (Patient & Staff Tracking)

Improve the effectiveness of communication among caregivers

RFID makes real-time changes in EHR accessible to all caregivers, facilitating the accurate and effective communication of key details (Patient & Staff Tracking, Lab & Sample Tracking, Medication Tracking)

Improve the safety of using medications

RFID ensures the right dosage of the right medication is given to the right person at the right time. It can prevent dangerous interactions and associate the caregiver who prescribes/administers the drugs with the patient in the EHR. (Patient & Staff Tracking, Medication Tracking, Inventory Management)

Accurately and completely reconcile medications across the continuum of care

EHR via RFID provides real-time, accurate and complete information across the continuum of care. (Patient & Staff Tracking, Medication Tracking, Lab & Sample Tracking)

Reduce the risk of patient harm resulting from falls

RFID Patient tracking can notify appropriate personnel when patients who are at high risk for falls get out of their beds/rooms, allowing them to respond immediately and restore the patient to safe conditions. (Patient Tracking)

Improve recognition and response to changes in a patient's condition

RFID can enable teams to quickly recognize, locate and reach a patient with the appropriate tools and medications to respond to their condition changes. (Patient & Staff Tracking, Inventory Management, Asset Tracking & Maintenance, Medication Tracking)

Universal Protocol steps

• Pre-procedure verification (Patient & Staff Tracking)
• Marking procedure site (EHR via RFID, Patient & Staff Tracking)
• Performing a time-out (Inventory Management, Asset Tracking & Maintenance, Medication Tracking)

RFID can facilitate a culture of safety and quality in health care environments, resulting in:

• Improved Patient Care
• Reduce Costs, and
• Reduce Risks

Plenty of money is available to help health care organizations adopt IT to improve care. AHRQ grants range from $100,000 - $1.2 million, and the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology reports more than $700 million in funding programs for healthcare IT adoption.

1. Medical Errors: The Scope of the Problem. Fact sheet, Publication No. AHRQ 00-P037. 2000. http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/errback.htm. Published Last Modified Date. Accessed Dated Accessed.

2. Kuehn BM. Reporting Errors. JAMA. February 27, 2008 2008;299(8):890-b-.

3. Miles SH. Wall of Silence: The Untold Story of the Medical Mistakes That Kill and Injure Millions of Americans. JAMA. November 12, 2003 2003;290(18):2486-2487.

4. Mitka M. Public, Private Insurers Refusing to Pay Hospitals for Costs of Avoidable Errors. JAMA. June 4, 2008 2008;299(21):2495-2496.

5. 2008 National Patient Safety Goals. Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations: Reprinted by permission of the Joint Commission; 2008: http://www.jointcommission.org/PatientSafety/NationalPatientSafetyGoals/09_hap_npsgs.htm. Accessed.

6. Macario A, Morris D, Morris S. Initial Clinical Evaluation of a Handheld Device for Detecting Retained Surgical Gauze Sponges Using Radiofrequency Identification Technology. Arch Surg. July 1, 2006 2006;141(7):659-662.

DCC provides scalable RFID solutions that meet three key health care objectives: improving patient care, reducing costs and minimizing risks. Our solutions deliver rapid ROI on your nominal investment by integrating RFID technologies with your existing systems to automate operations and eliminate error.

DCC selects the best RFID hardware, software and tags in functionality and value, for the health care environment. With no vested interest in any particular technology or brand, you can rest assured that we have the right prescription to eliminate the "pains" in health care.

RFID Inventory Management

DCC’s Inventory Management solution enables health care entities to monitor assets, equipment, medication and supplies in real-time, addressing many industry “pains.”

Our solutions offer interoperability with the software and systems you already have in place. This allows a seamless integration of information that:

· Tracks inventory in real-time
· Improves utilization of inventory
· Avoids costly overstocking
· Links items with staff and patients
· Eliminates errors
· Increases staff efficiency

The system can notify the proper personnel when:

· Reordering is necessary
· Items are missing
· Security is compromised
· Storing conditions are not optimal
· Expiry dates are impending

The advantages of this solution are countless; the customer satisfaction, patient safety, staff efficiency and cost savings implications occur on many different levels of the health care organization once optimal visibility and management of inventory is achieved.

Lack of funds, budget cuts and staff shortages are making it increasingly difficult for health care providers to achieve three critical objectives in the industry:

· Improving Patient Care
· Reducing Costs, and
· Minimizing Risks

DCC has identified these key objectives with a thorough understanding of the unique challenges presented in the health care sphere. We have designed our RFID solutions to specifically address these challenges, or “pains”.
The cost savings realized with an inventory management solution are quite significant. RFID is quickly becoming the standard in health care due to this fundamental benefit, as more health care entities experience the advantages.

An example of the compounding benefits of inventory management:

Hospital staff can focus on patient care, rather than manually locating equipment and supplies. This single change has multiple positive outcomes relating back to the three key objectives:

· Improves satisfaction, safety and care of patients
· Reduces risks to patients and staff from distractions
· Avoids legal risks of compromised safety
· Redirects payroll funds for appropriate job roles
· Improved staff efficiency reduces employees required

Overstock of supplies is avoided, freeing up valuable funds for other uses.

For example, managing inventory of IV pumps is a particularly prevalent issue in health care. IV pumps are overstocked by 30 percent, on average, to help compensate for the constant difficulty locating them. With RFID, this type of expensive countermeasure is unnecessary.

The cost of implementing RFID to manage inventory is exponentially recovered. ROI is rapidly realized along with the additional benefits of having the technology in place.

We are invested in the success of your project and will work with you from concept to testing, to full implementation of your inventory management solution.

DCC has an impeccable record as a systems integrator, meeting every client’s unique needs and guaranteeing their satisfaction.

Since 1979, we have demonstrated superior customer service and technical knowledge in providing IT solutions to business enterprises. We invite you to learn more about how we can apply our expertise to enhance the processes and systems in your organization. Download PDF

DCC provides scalable RFID solutions that meet three key health care objectives: improving patient care, reducing costs and minimizing risks.
Our solutions deliver rapid ROI on your nominal investment by integrating RFID technologies with your existing systems to automate operations and eliminate error.

DCC selects the best RFID hardware, software and tags in functionality and value, for the health care environment.
With no vested interest in any particular technology or brand, you can rest assured that we have the right prescription to eliminate the pains" in health care.

Call today to talk with one of our RFID experts, or visit our RFID Demo Room
Toll-Free: 1-866-257-2111 http://www.dynamicrfidsolutions.com/