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Royal Cornwall Hospital recently launched an RFID system to track high-value implant items used during surgery to ensure traceability. This technology is part of the UK’s Scan4Safety program, and its GS1 barcode or RFID technology can be used to identify parts, thereby ensuring that patients use the correct implants while also achieving traceability. The purpose of the system is to reduce the incidence of errors and the time hospital staff spend tracking products (including drugs and implants).
Royal Cornwall Hospital was one of the first implementers of the Scan4Safety program, which used RFID or barcode scanning for tracking. Royal Cornwall Hospital is a teaching hospital that provides medical services in three locations: Truro, Penzance and Hayle. Currently, the hospital has a total of 750 beds.
The hospital uses UPC provided by Ingenica Solutions and Atticus, a passive UHF RFID solution, to manage surgical implants. According to Ingenica’s managing director Nicola Hall, Atticus is a modular inventory management solution that includes a series of data collection options.
In the past, when the hospital used manual inventory management of surgical implants, the hospital needed to ensure that the inventory was available at any time, did not expire, and did not make mistakes. Manual management often took a long time.
Nick Kyte, a member of the Royal Cornwall Hospital Project Management Office, said: RFID digital systems are faster and more accurate than paper systems. He said: “We want the staff to obtain item information by reading the label attached to the implant package.”
He pointed out that although these products can be tracked through bar codes, RFID has several unique advantages. He said: “RFID technology is more powerful and will not fade like bar code labels. This technology also allows employees to read without picking up the card reader.”
Hall said that with the Ingenica solution system in place, the hospital will mark the implants. The ID number of the label will be bound to the manufacturer, expiration date, product model, batch number and other information, which will be stored in the Microsoft Dynamics ERP system.
The hospital will also install Ingenica UHF RFID desktop readers in the surgical tool storage area. Before implanting in a specific patient, the staff will place the product on the card reader. Then, the staff uses Atticus software to enter the patient’s ID card and associate it with the implant. Then, the software will store the patient’s ID number and implant data. When a recall is required due to product quality, the software can query the information of patients who use the batch of products. In this way, the hospital can contact the patient in time and carry out a recall.
After the system began to be deployed at the end of last month, the hospital will begin to evaluate the cost reduction and efficiency improvement brought about by the system. At the same time, the technology will also help hospitals carry out inventory replenishment.
In addition, the hospital is using RFID technology for some inventory management. The RFID solution is provided by Lyngsoe Systems, a traceability and data reading technology company, and the RFID technology is being used for the management of medical electronic equipment.
At the same time, the Ingenica solution system will help hospitals achieve Scan4safety goals. The program will be deployed in multiple stages, and pilots will be conducted in several operating rooms in the early stage.
Kyte said the hospital hopes to get some benefits from the program, such as saving costs by reducing waste caused by expiration. He predicts that this technology will also save doctors’ time spent recording implant status. The hospital also hopes to use the system to improve safety and ensure that patients use the correct implants.
In the future, Royal Cornwall hopes to promote this system in the supply chain, requiring its suppliers to label and mark at the factory.
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