2014 NRTRC TELEMEDICINE CONFERENCE
Telehealth and Medical Management: Applications, Case Studies, and Intelligence
from RFID
Cheryl Ann Alexander, RN, CCRN, MSN/MHA Chairman/CEO
Technology & Healthcare Solutions, Inc. Greenwood, Mississippi
Lidong Wang, Ph.D., Associate Professor
Department of Applied Technology Mississippi Valley State University
March 25, 2014
CONTENTS
Telehealth Telemedicine Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) RFID in Medical Management RFID in Telemedicine Case Studies
TELEHEALTH
The Health Resources Services Administration defines telehealth as:
The use of electronic information and telecommunications technologies to support :
Long-distance clinical health care Patient and professional health-related education Public health and health administration [1].
TELEHEALTH
Telehealth technologies include [1]:
Videoconferencing The internet Store-and-forward imaging Streaming media, and Terrestrial and wireless communications
TELEMEDICINE
American Telemedicine Association (ATA)
Definition of telemedicine
The use of medical information exchanged from one site to another via electronic communications to improve patients’ health status [2].
TELEMEDICINE
Telehealth refers to a broader scope of remote healthcare services than telemedicine.
TELEMEDICINE APPLICATIONS [3]
Intensive care units (ICUs) Caring for children in clinics Caring for patients at home Rural health care Diabetic care Cardiovascular care Emergency and trauma care
TELEMEDICINE APPLICATIONS
Emergency medical services (EMS) use telemedicine to provide high-quality pre-hospital stroke treatment [4]
RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION (RFID)
RFID [5] [6] is an automated identification method relying on storing and remotely retrieving data using tags and readers
An RFID tag is an object that can be attached to or incorporated into a product, animal, or person for the purpose of identification using radio waves
RFID SYSTEM COMPONENTS
A basic RFID system [20]
RFID SYSTEM COMPONENTS
Hardware components:
Tag
Reader
Antenna
Host computer
RFID READERS [21]
OPERATIONAL DESCRIPTION RFID [5]
RFID data transfer occurs with the connection between a tag and a reader
also known as coupling passes through the antennae on either
end
OPERATIONAL DESCRIPTION RFID [5]
SOFTWARE COMPONENTS [5]
RFID system software
RFID middleware
Host application
SOFTWARE COMPONENTS [5]
RFID MIDDLEWARE [6] [7]
RFID middleware standardizes ways of dealing with the flood of information the tiny tags produce
Sort, filter, and process data so that it can be managed in real time
Data volume is reduced and data is transmitted selectively
RFID IN MEDICAL MANAGEMENT [8-14]
Identifying laboratory specimens
Tracking personnel and patients
Monitoring patients
Tracking medical devices and potentially hazardous materials
Linking key drugs with patients and personnel
RFID IN MEDICAL MANAGEMENT [8-14]
Detecting medically significant events
RFID integrated with sensors and network can monitor the temperature of blood products
Continuously monitor the physiological status of a patient
RFID IN MEDICAL MANAGEMENT
RFID tagging hospital patients improves safety [22]
RFID IN THE PHARMACEUTICAL SUPPLY CHAIN
Based on the Electronic Product Code (EPC) and the EPCglobal Network:
RFID can perform traceability of products and track all transactions from the beginning to the end of the supply chain in the pharmaceutical industry
Combats counterfeit products and protects product brands [15]
AN RFID SYSTEM IN MEDICAL MANAGEMENT
RFID-BASED TELEMEDICINE
RFID has been applied in telemedicine which employs wired or wireless communications to provide medical information and services [8]
Physicians can remotely assess and diagnose
Video and audio communications to assess the patient And the patient’s physiological data [16]
RFID-BASED TELEMEDICINE
Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have been used in health status monitoring [17]
The integration of WSNs and RFID systems has also opened up new opportunities in health care systems and wireless telemedicine [17]
RFID-BASED TELEMEDICINE
Health care professions in both hospitals and in the community are using telemedicine and RFID technology as new modes of health care delivery to [8] [18]:
Meet the demands of an aging population with chronic illnesses.
RFID-BASED TELEMEDICINE
Decrease the numbers of specialized physicians
Increase health care access in rural areas
CASE STUDIES
Case 1: RFID Applications in Controlling Epidemics
In 2003 Alexandra Hospital in Singapore used an RFID tracking system during the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak [8].
CASE STUDIES
All patients, visitors, and staff entered the hospital using RFID ID cards so that if someone was diagnosed with SARS later, all individuals who contacted the person in the hospital could be immediately identified [8]
CASE STUDIES
Case 2: RFID Integration with Mobile Smart Phone, Wireless Sensor Network and Bluetooth [19]
Continuous monitoring and patient identification during intra-hospital or inter-hospital patient transport.
CASE STUDIES
The patient’s physiological sensor network comprises several medical sensor nodes and a control node
A mobile smart phone can be used as the control node and communicates with medical sensor nodes via Bluetooth.
Observed data will be forwarded to remote users using wide area networks.
REFERENCES
[1] http://www.hrsa.gov/ruralhealth/about/telehealth/
[2] The American Telemedicine Association,
http://www.americantelemed.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3333 Accessed 05.18.12.
[3] Cowie, M. R. and Lobos, A. A. (2012) ‘Telemonitoring for patients with heart failure’, CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association Journal, vol. 184, no. 5, pp. 509-510.
[4] http://webconferencingcouncil.com/?p=637
[5] Bhuptani, M. and Moradpour, S. (2005) RFID Field Guide, Sun Microsystems Press, New Jersey, USA.
[6] Lahiri, S. (2006) RFID Sourcebook, IBM Press.
[7] Glover, B. and Bhatt, H. (2006) RFID Essentials, O'Reilly Media, Inc.
REFERENCES
[8] Xiao, Y., Shen, X., Sun, B. and Cai, L. (2006) ‘Security and privacy in RFID and applications in telemedicine’, IEEE Communications Magazines, Vol. 44, No. 4, pp.64–72.
[9] Attaran, M. (2007) ‘RFID pays off: real benefits begin to accrue in several industries’, Industrial Engineer, Vol. 38, 11 March, pp.46–55.
[10] Shen, J., Shih, D., Chiang, H. and Lin, S. (2007) ‘A mobile physiological monitoring system for patient transport’, Journal of High Speed Networks, Vol. 16, No. 1, pp.51–68.
[11] Christe, B., Cooney, E., Maggioli, G., Doty, D., Frye, R. and Short, J. (2008) ‘Testing potential interference with RFID usage in the patient care environment’, Biomedical Instrumentation and Technology, Vol. 42, No. 6, pp.479–484.
REFERENCES
[12] Schuster, E.W., Allen, S.J. and Brock, D.L. (2007) Global RFID: The Value of the EPCglobal Network for Supply Chain Management, Spring-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, Germany.
[13] Agarwal, S., Joshi, A., Finin, T., Yesha, Y. and Ganous, T. (2007) ‘A pervasive computing system for the operating room of the future’, Mobile Networks and Applications, Vol. 12, Nos. 2–3, pp.215–228.
[14] Catarinucci, L., Cappelli, M., Colella, R. and Tarricone, L. (2008) ‘A novel low-cost multisensor-tag for RFID applications in healthcare’, Microwave and Optical Technology Letters, Vol. 50, No. 11, pp.2877–2880.
[15] Fischer, M., Friedrich, U., Henkel, F., Masuch, J., Pangels, M. and Ziebertz, D. (2006) ‘RFID-based brand protection through support of anti-counterfeiting, unmodifiable product properties, and tracing/tracking efforts’, Microwave Engineering Europe, April, pp.12–14.
REFERENCES
[16] Ng, H. S., Sim, M. L. C., Tan, M., Wong, C. C. (2006) ‘Wireless technologies for telemedicine’, BT Technology Journal, vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 130-137.
[17] Sun, B., Xiao, Y., Li, C. C. et al. (2008) “Security co-existence of wireless sensor networks and RFID for pervasive computing”, Computer Communications vol.31, pp. 4294–4303.
[18] Raviprakash, A. V., Prabu, B., Alagumurthi, N. and Soundararajan, V. (2009) ‘RFID: Rx to healthcare industry’, ICFAI Journal of Supply Chain Management, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 7-25.
[19] Shen, J.-C., Shih, D.-H., Chiang H.-S. and Lin, S.-B. (2007) ‘A mobile physiological monitoring system for patient transport’ Journal of High Speed Networks, vol. 16, pp. 51–68.
REFERENCES
[20] http://www.aimglobal.org/technologies/rfid/what_is_rfid. Asp
[21] http://www.rfidsupplychain.com/Search.bok?category=RFID+Readers&
gclid=CN7x-5iqnJECFQv_sgodlVVgPA
[22] http://ebiquity.umbc.edu/blogger/2007/02/20/rfid-tagging-hospital-patients-improves-safety/
Thanks!