Monitoring the Movement of Infection in Hospital : Is There Potential for RFID?

• Limiting the spread and effect of infections in hospital populations is a priority of healthcare providers. Approximately 1 in 20 in-patients develop a hospital acquired infection (HAI) in Ireland, and the rising prevalence of antibiotic-resistance strains forces a shift in focus from a curative to preventative approach to management.Addressing issues of infection control in hospital, this paper reviews the potential for radio frequency identification (RFID) to positively impact infection control. A retrospective analysis of patients’ movements through an interventional radiology department (IR) in a busy teaching hospital was conducted to examine infection and cross-infection potential in the course of routine working.A literature review was conducted and observations were recorded over a 4-week period. The number of infected patients was noted, along with time spent in establishing if an infection was present.Thirty-four of the 135 patients who visited IR were infected; MRSA infection was most common. The overall theme to emerge was that while information was available it was fragmented and not easily accessed which makes tracking the movement of infections throughout a hospital difficult.Potentially RFID can assist in limiting cross-contamination opportunities. Because RFID technology has the ability to establish an auditable list of contacts between staff and patients, a patient’s journey throughout an organisation can be retrospectively analysed. This information provided can then be used to identify other patients at risk and better inform the use of antibiotics. This ubiquitous approach also reduces time spent tracking infectious incidences. 

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Medicinteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Medical Engineering (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Information Systems

Informatik

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)