The Department of Electronics and Telecommunications of the University of Florence has elaborated a project to track the patients of the Paediatric Hospital Meyer through an RFID tag
12 October 2009, written by Nicola Bruno -
At the elevator pitch of Florence, Ernesto Iadanza presented a research project called "Baby track", commissioned and funded by the university hospital trust Meyer of Florence. The aim of this hardware/software system, which is the result of the collaboration between the Hospital Meyer and the Department of Electronics and Telecommunications of the University of Florence, is to track the position of paediatric patients within the hospital or, more specifically, within the ward.
The project is based on the use of the RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) system, which, upon interrogation, can transmit an identification code. More specifically, the system is formed by an active RFID tag combined with a passive one which shares the same code.
The objective of the project is to replace currently used, but less effective systems which do not make it possible to immediately track the patient, such as the traditional paper tag. To this purpose, two RFID tags are used - one on the patient and one on his/her bed - together with a system for their interrogation and tracking which is controlled by a special software.
The project will become effective at the Hospital Meyer by the end of October 2009.
"Baby track" has been conceived for in-patients of paediatric wards, but it can be easily extended also to other types of patients.
With respect to the costs of the project, a hospital willing to adopt this system would have to invest on average 500 euro per bed or per unit (room). Each tag will cost 30 euro - a cost which is fixed, given that the tags are not disposable, but they can be reused several times.
The project team does not yet include a business figure in charge of looking for clients, because the project is still at an initial phase and only limited to the academic setting. However, there is already a technology partner which is willing to share its sales network.
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