RFID in Health Care-Building Smart Hospitals for Quality Healthcare

Abstract

RFID is a new technology that is quickly gaining ground in healthcare industry. RFID is being used in many areas of healthcare from asset tracking to patient care to access control. RFID can also be used to provide real-time information for decision support and to create a smart hospital supported by a secure and reliable smart hospital management information system (SHMIS). Such system can enable hospitals dynamically control different objects and transforms operational processes while minimizing any potential risks to patients and staff. The objective of this article is to discuss how RFID can be used to build a smart hospital and how healthcare industry can gain long-term benefits from smart hospitals. Findings indicate that use of RFID to develop smart hospitals require various enablers. There also exist ethical/cultural issues related to smart hospital implementation that require close collaboration among RFID products manufactures and healthcare providers. This article also provides several recommendations for healthcare industry in order gain competitive advantage from the use of smart hospitals.