As part of a pilot program taking place at Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital dubbed ORF (operating Room of the Future), a computer system features high-speed data streams from hospital databases and various networks that synchronizes and time-stamps them for display onto a web portal to be transmitted on an Internet-connected PC in the OR. Some of that data includes a patient's name, weight, age, gender and the procedure he or she is undergoing.
One of the more controversial aspects of the project is the use of RFID tags for locating and tracking of medical staff and patients. The OR display is setup to show a complete list of staff expected for a surgery, and when a doctor or nurse enters the room the name will become brightly lit. According to hospital officials, doctors were at first reluctant to use the RFID tags because of concerns including if, during surgery, something went wrong at there was a question of a doctor's whereabouts, it could be grist for a lawsuit. Added to that is the "newness" of the technology and that the learning curve to adapt to the new system would be quite large. However, the hospital says that the doctors are beginning to accept the system.
1. The article missed one of best use of RFID in operating rooms: if all instruments had a radio label, one could check for a forgotten instrument using a hand scanner before closing the incision.
Right now, instruments are obssessively counted and recounted, one of the major time expenditure during surgery. Just imagine what it sounds like during emergency surgery, when minutes count.
Now, one of the most forgotten instrument is a needle, because of its small size. Can they fit an RFID in a steel needle?
Posted at 4:17AM on Dec 19th 2005 by EM