Thingmagic UHF RFID reader builds an RFID tracking system for the entire medical laboratory
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Ambient ID released UHF UHF Gen 2 RFIDThe system solution uses Trimble’s Thingmagic UHF RFID reader to track the specimen bottles from the hospital to the laboratory for diagnostic tests. The specimen bottles contain human tissue or blood. This solution can be provided in real time The location of the specimen bottle.
On June 30, 2009, Ambient ID (a Seattle-based provider of business management technology for hospitals and clinics) cooperated with some of the largest hospitals and laboratories in the United States to develop an ultra-high frequency RFID tracking called LabTrack System, the system is mainly to monitor those specimen bottles that go to and from hospitals and laboratories for diagnostic testing, monitor their movement and storage, and provide laboratories and health care providers with real-time monitoring of the visibility of specimen bottles data.
The LabTrack UHF RFID system is used in commerce and is now used in 14 hospitals and laboratories. Peter Allison (Chairman and President of Ambient ID) said that the number of users of the system is expected to rise to 75 by the end of this year. Ambient ID declined to disclose the names of the laboratories and health care providers they cooperated with, but he said that their joint efforts are to make this system more suitable for the development of the medical industry.
The entire medical RFID tracking system is completely based on Trimble’s Thingmagic Mercury API. The software development kit of Mercury API is a public platform for all ThingMagic fixed and embedded users. The Mercury API requires very little RFID expertise to allow developers to quickly design and test:
• Reader and control label instructions
• Cash reading and setting functions, such as antenna, protocol and screening
• Advanced label operations, such as deleting and locking labels
•Privacy and security features
• Performance and memory optimization
ThingMagic Mercury API is simple to operate, which reduces the development time cost for system integrators and original equipment manufacturers, a more intuitive user experience and multi-document reading support. The latest 1.23 version of Mercury API is now available on the market. The enhanced API allows developers to include an iOS application for a simple “out-of-the-box” solution.
According to Allison, because the UHF RFID tracking system was first used by some of the largest laboratories in the United States, they have a large amount of work on human specimens performed in the pathology laboratory. For this reason, many health care providers ( Some of them are the “member hospitals” of these laboratories) and the laboratories can share the position data of the specimen bottles in the LabTrack system to and from the hospital and the laboratory.
According to Robert Grenley (Executive Vice President of Business Development for Ambient ID), in the spring of 2008, the company teamed up with potential customers for the first time, mainly in laboratories, to understand when tracking human tissue and blood samples that had undergone several cycles (to and from the hospital). And laboratories, sometimes stored) What are the issues that need to be resolved.
After tissue sampling, for example, blood sampling is placed in a specimen bottle, and then passed through a number of laboratories or health care facilities, often after a long process before testing, and finally reporting the results to doctors and patients.
The patient’s name, as well as other identification information, is usually printed on each specimen bottle. These specimen bottles are packed into a box marked with a barcode label, and then the label is scanned by a barcode UHF RFID reader, or the recipient of the box records the relevant information.
The boxes are packed in large bags and then transported to the pathology laboratory. These bags change hands many times during the transport to a specific organization that specializes in diagnosis or to a laboratory for testing. They are often transported to a collection center, then to a pathology laboratory, and finally to a specific pathology station in the laboratory. But for health care providers, the problem is that the information system that tracks each specimen bottle is limited. Once the specimen bottle is loaded and shipped, the healthcare provider cannot realize the visibility management of the location of the bottle. When the laboratory staff received the specimen bottle, they only knew the source of the specimen bottle, but did not know other data, such as when the specimen bottle was shipped and how long the journey time was. When doctors or patients are waiting for results from a laboratory, sometimes they don’t know whether the laboratory can receive a particular sample bottle, or which laboratory that sample bottle is in.
Allison declined to disclose the number of lost or misplaced specimen bottles, but he stated that the delay in searching for these specimen bottles was worth between US$52 and US$64. Ambient ID’s LabTrack system will avoid these unnecessary losses and troubles. Therefore, the system will provide users with an immediate return on investment (ROI).
The UHF Gen2 RFID tags installed by LabTrack on tissue specimen bottles are provided by third-party manufacturers (the name of the tag manufacturer is not yet provided). The tag is read by an UHF RFID reader with a reading distance of 10 to 30 feet. Ambient ID installs the UHF RFID reader on the doorway, ceiling, and under the workbench in the laboratory or storage area. The reader is provided by ThingMagic, a subsidiary of Trimble. Depending on the size of the UHF RFID reader, a laboratory generally needs to install 3 to 9 machines.
Three advantages of Thingmagic UHF RFID reader:
The operation method of the label is: Ambient first tests each label, and then submits it to the hospital. When the data of a certain patient is input into the system, the label can be installed on the disposable specimen bottle, and then the label is read by the reader. In order to link the unique ID number with some necessary detailed information (specimen, hospital-managed patients and trials).
LabTrack software can be installed in the user’s back-end database or on the server entrance managed by Ambient ID, and is designed to provide alerts when accidental or unauthorized actions occur, such as specimen bottles being transported to the wrong laboratory. It can also send out an alarm to remind the user that a human tissue specimen has been placed in a specific location for too long (because the human tissue specimen will rot if placed for too long.) Grenley explained: “The alarm will remind people that something is wrong. Location, or remind people how long something stayed in transit.”
Allison said that the LabTrack system is billed on a monthly or quarterly basis. For this reason, users can get a quick return on investment, because the system greatly reduces the time to find specimen bottles in hospitals and laboratories.
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