EBME Forums Forums Management Modernisation (Formerly, Controls Assurance) RF ID tags

Hi Bill,

Can I ask you how many pump you tagged?

What is the approx cost for tagging a device ie in this instance the pumps.

Hi Umish,

We actually have about 250 (ish) pumps on our network. We bought the Plums with the in-built wireless network cards so they aren't actually RFID tagged as such.

Bill,

So you actually did not have a dedicated TAging system, you used the Plum wireless technology?

Could that be the source of pumps not being accuately detected?

RFID tagging is being discussed for this site but at the moment we are only at the trial stage. Your summation that the Plum's could be the source of the problem probably isn't far off but then again the access points could be placed better so.........

At the final stages of a cardiac centre build, I am including RFID as part of the tender, cost is not an issue if you consider litigation. With regard to the plumA & A+3 pumps we have over 600 spread over various sites, keeping track is a major issue even though they are on contract. I have proposed an equipment library but space is an issue.

You might want to explain that one, Neil.

Especially if "they" can't afford a shed for an Equipment Library.

With obvious benefits of RFID tracking and costs gradually comming down. it would be helpful to see some figures.
We have recently had an estimate for 250 tags working with existing wifi that equate to £80 per tag

There are some interesting passive tags around that are very cheap or should I say cheaper?. You have an interrogator walk in to the room and it tells you everything in the room. Ok this means you have to do some work, but linked up to an equipment library person doing the rounds, they can look in cupboards and do a thorough search in a few seconds at the doorway.
Totally active tags are expensive and large and it is the small items that go missing. So in a way they are not appropriate unless you want to monitor the where-abouts of your anaesthetic machines.
Robert

Speaking for myself, I find the technology (all technology, really) interesting. But as I have probably mentioned a few times before, just because something is technically possible it doesn't (shouldn't) automatically follow that we must have it, that it would be money well spent, or even that it is a "good thing" at all.

So ... would anyone care to remind us what actual problems RFID is supposed to solve?

But, having said that, if we must embrace RFID, then I would go for passive tags ... if nothing else I like the idea of reducing, rather than increasing, all the extra mess of signals flying around the "ether". I also like the idea of the tag being the Asset (or BME) Sticker! Also, am I right in assuming that passive systems don't need so much - or any - wiring (of Wi-Fi points, and such)?

And I would want to see (or develop) a cheaper, simpler "solution"; one that would involve adding yet another "app" on your smart-phone, for instance.

Lastly ... what happens to the kit once it has mysteriously left the confines of the building(s), and headed beyond the range of the system ... does GPS kick in?

Geoff, it is not a matter of affording a shed, we have no room at the moment. we are just about to start a game of dominoes, once the outpatients building opens (Feb 2015)Specialty clinics move, ICU moves and expands, OR expands, a new dialysis centre will open in 2015, RT, Physio will move and expand. Plus we have new external clinics being built, tracking the equipment is a major headache (we now have home-careas well) this alongside JCI means we have our work cut out for a year or 2, litigation has been here for quite some time and if you cannot show a complete history for maintenance problems may occur depending on how the equipment maintenance plan is written and implemented.