Implementing RFID-enabled technology for the transport of precious laboratory samples at St. James’s Hospital
Laboratory samples, such as cancerous tissues taken during a biopsy, are “precious” since a patient’s care could be delayed if the sample was lost.
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It would be necessary to take another sample (perhaps by another potentially invasive operation) or the hospital might be unable to retrieve another sample, unnecessarily delaying the diagnosis and treatment for the patient.
St. James’s Hospital in Dublin investigated GS1 standards-based RFID (radio frequency identification) technology in 2014 as a method of tracking anyone or anything that could move or be transferred within the hospital. By placing an RFID tag on an asset, person or item and installing an RFID infrastructure within the campus, it can now be tracked and located. The RFID project called PATH (Patient and Asset Tracking in Healthcare) is part of a broader overall traceability strategy in the hospital.
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