RFID NFC Technology Improve Safety at the Healthcare Facility COVID-19 With RFID NFC (Near-Field-Communication) tracking equipment, able to manage the vaccine temperatures and hand-washing protocols, the technology can be managed with range of critical needs.
Hospitals can take advantage of RFID-enabled technology to better manage patient and employee safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. The tiny tags have big potential. The RFID reader, which use wireless communication to identify and track assets and equipment, have seen strong adoption in healthcare since 2010. The Pharmaceutical industry using the RFID tags for long time in different part of the world. The RFID Tags has been used to keep tabs on NFC (RFID) Wristband attached to a newborn’s ankle, for instance, can alert care teams if a baby is removed from the nursery.
Now, as the public health emergency continues, RFID is driving efficiency and accountability for care teams.
Better Management of Scrubs and Protective Apparel Scrubs, distributed via machines and cabinets, can be tagged with RFID trackers to help organizations manage inventory, which can save money and improve safety. When COVID-19 began, some clinical workers hoarded scrubs, resulting in shortages. Some hid extra supplies in their lockers, which could ultimately contaminate the items.
Because distribution machines automatically dispense scrubs, staff are not rifling through the stock to find their correct sizes. The machines also require users to return an equal number of scrubs to receive new ones in return, thus avoiding low stock.
Ensuring Hand Hygiene Protocols Are Followed by Staff
Regular and thorough handwashing is essential to improving infection control, both in the case of COVID-19 and other communicable diseases. Hospitals can use RFID to track whether clinical staffers are adhering to this important practice.
By installing an RFID reader at a hand-washing station that can read badges or tags on healthcare workers’ uniforms, leadership teams can use that information to track when and how often employees are washing their hands. Identifying Delays and Efficiencies at COVID-19 Testing Sites
Some patients wait hours to be seen at a testing center. By using RFID to track patients through the process, providers can identify the causes of bottlenecks and address them.
RFID may also be used for inventory management at busy mobile testing sites. By tagging specimens and supplies, teams can get a better idea of the whereabouts of in-demand equipment and identify items in need of replenishment.
Precise Temperature Monitoring of Vaccines
The news of several COVID-19 vaccines has brought relief as well as logistical challenges, including storage. In the case of Pfizer’s, the doses must be kept at a frigid minus 70 degrees Celsius (for context, that’s colder than winter in Antarctica).
When vaccines reach a facility, providers could deploy RFID tags with sensors to make sure the critically important supplies are kept at the right temperature, so no dose is wasted.
Data Collection to Enable COVID-19 Contract Tracing Efforts
RFID badges or wristbands can be to track employee movements — a key component of effective contract tracing, which has faced issues of participation and accuracy in recent months.
Knowing a person’s whereabouts is central to mapping an outbreak. If one employee contracts COVID-19, administrators can review that person’s records, collected via RFID, to see who they encountered and provide timely outreach.
Self-Guided Temperature Screening for Healthcare Employees
Hospitals might equip employees with RFID-based temperature-scanning key fobs. When these staffers enter a hospital, they can use assigned fobs to take their temperatures. Employees with fevers may be advised not to enter the building.
Although an elevated body temperature is not a universal symptom of COVID-19, identifying febrile individuals using this and other fever-detection technologies can help contain and expedite treatment for those most likely to have and spread the disease.
Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine Authorized by U.S. FDA For Emergency Use – First Single-Shot Vaccine in Fight Against Global Pandemic. Like Pfizer Vaccine, Johnson & Johnson managing all the Vaccine by most advance RFID tags to monitoring each unit. Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine and how to store, handle, and administer it. CDC.gov
