Hospital Is Watching

RFID tags and systems have some obvious advantages and a few disadvantages as well. The RFID tags and systems make procedures that normally take hours much faster. They allow nurses and doctors to track down equipment easier and quicker. The system also cuts down the amount of errors that occur when administering and moving medicine. It is crucial that the correct medicine and proper doses are issued to a patient and this system makes it simple to locate and administer medicine in a timely error-free manner. The RFID tags also make locating patients easier. When a patient with Alzheimer's forgets where they are in the middle of the night and wanders off. The RFID tags will enable to nurses to look on the computer and locate the patient anywhere in the building. Before RFID tags the nurses would have had to to run all over the floors searching for the patient.

However, there are a few important disadvantages to this new technology. The first problem is radio frequencies. Hospitals already have a myriad of radio frequencies running throughout the building and the added frequencies of the RFID tags can interfere with the frequencies already in place and cause catastrophic damage. The frequencies could cause a ventilator to turn off, a pacemaker to beat to fast or too little, or cause an IV to administer too much fluid. The creators of the technology have worked at great lengths to try and prevent this from happening, but it is always a possibility. The second problem is the cost. For a 907-bed hospital in Newark. Delaware the total cost to install the system was around $1 million. With the economy in the current state that is in, one might wonder whether the errors being avoided are worth $1 million.