Steve
The application here for RFID would be to request a location of an unfound device, for example an IV pump, or a wheelchair, or the such, that must be inspected before next use, that someone stuck in a closet, where hours and hours of time would be spent trying to locate that single device. What I have come to learn is that the hospital's wireless network would "triangulate" the location of the missing device to get you reasonably close such that the search would then become limited to just that "bubble." By bubble I have also learned that this does not necessarily mean the same floor, it could be the floor below or above. After locating the device the data acquisition equipment - bar code scanner - would issue work to be done and document same. Thanks, Jim Gross, CHFM Dir. Engineering Services Noyes Hospital 585-335-4317 ________________________________ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Wills, Steve Sent: Thursday, June 04, 2009 9:54 AM To: RBASE-L Mailing List Subject: [RBASE-L] - RE: RFID Jim, an observation about this from a bird's eye view, but I see RFID as just another step in the development of tech-devices for input/data acquisition. In essence, it works like a barcode scanner. Yes, it capabilities are different from barcode-scanning, but at the fundamental level, it's just a means to get data from the "real world" into the system. I don't if that helps, but using this same line of reasoning, I was able to help some decision-makers in our Lab Animal Care Unit avoid being blinded by the RFID hype. They were melding the data-acquisition hardware with the application software, items which, logically speaking, are certainly able to be uncoupled. In any industry where vertical applications are common and even key to operations, I think some vendors present their offerings in this way. In fact, one (un-named) vendor was really pushing RFID for animal care and inventory management. They were trying to integrate in a somewhat proprietary fashion animal housing units ("cages") with RFID (tags and scanner/monitoring hardware) and their in-house vertical app' for animal inventory and care management. To be honest, although the big-picture idea is inarguably a good one, I shared with our internal clients these conclusions: 1 - The total price was very high. 2 - RFID hardware and tags, even ones that survive being autoclaved, are available from multiple HARDWARE vendors. 3 - As a strategic principle, avoid proprietary implementations as much as possible, unless some huge value can be demonstrated for so doing. 4 - The software was immature both in function and reliability. This, to me, was the real kicker. It seemed to prove that a main objective of their demonstration was to obfuscate the distinction between the RFID hardware and the software, as well as the "integration" with their animal-housing products. I saw this as tantamount to saying, "OUR application will only work with OUR RFID hardware and, since YOU already buy OUR animal cages, OUR WAY IS THE ONLY WAY." BTW, I have no problems with the concept or benefits of RFID. However, for now, our LACU folks have chosen to go forward with a system that utilizes barcode-scanning as its primary mode for data-acquisition from the "real world", with an open mind to RFID as a future input option. This route, for now, offers us a better value proposition. HTH, Steve in Memphis From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Gross, Jim Sent: Thursday, June 04, 2009 6:16am 06:16 To: RBASE-L Mailing List Subject: [RBASE-L] - RFID To All Healthcare and other industries have mobile equipment requiring periodic safety checks, service and other activities. Locating these items to perform periodic maintenance or safety checks consumes precious productive time that could be used elsewhere. Has anyone integrated RFID with an RBase application? Jim Gross Director of Facilities Engineering Noyes Hospital
