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Liverpool Hospital RFID Case Study Updated

Liverpool Hospital implemented an RFID tracking system for blood and blood products to improve confidence in their cold chain compliance and reduce risks. They used RFID tags on blood bags and an RFID-enabled fridge in operating theaters. This provided accurate, real-time tracking of blood removal and return compared to the previous inaccurate paper system. It ensured blood was only reused if safely stored and reduced the risk of giving blood to the wrong patient. While some challenges occurred, staff training and system upgrades addressed most issues. The RFID system increased confidence in blood safety and management at the hospital.

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121 views4 pages

Liverpool Hospital RFID Case Study Updated

Liverpool Hospital implemented an RFID tracking system for blood and blood products to improve confidence in their cold chain compliance and reduce risks. They used RFID tags on blood bags and an RFID-enabled fridge in operating theaters. This provided accurate, real-time tracking of blood removal and return compared to the previous inaccurate paper system. It ensured blood was only reused if safely stored and reduced the risk of giving blood to the wrong patient. While some challenges occurred, staff training and system upgrades addressed most issues. The RFID system increased confidence in blood safety and management at the hospital.

Uploaded by

RSR “Rafli syahputra ramdanel”
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Better Practice Case Study:

Liverpool Hospital RFID Case Study


How RFID tracking of Blood and Blood Products improved confidence in cold chain compliance.

Background
Prior to December 2013 Liverpool Hospital used a paper based sign-out register for logging blood
products in and out of their operating theatre fridge. This register was often not completed or
inaccurate. As a result staff could not be confident that unused red blood cells had been returned to the
fridge within a 30 minute window thereby ensuring it was safe to reissue. There was also the additional
risk that blood removed from the operating theatre fridge for transfusion could go to the wrong patient.
These risks were seen as unacceptable and a solution was sought. In an effort to reduce these risks, the
hospital transfusion service began exploring the idea of using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags
to track the intra-hospital movement of their blood and blood products with the aim of improving
patient safety.

About Liverpool Hospital

Liverpool Hospital is located approximately a 50-minute drive from the Sydney CBD.
With 23 operating theatres and an 877 bed capacity, the hospital is the major health
service for south-western Sydney; providing services including diagnostic and imaging
services, emergency and trauma care, haematology, cardiothoracic, maternity,
paediatric, cancer care, mental health, ambulatory care, allied health and medical
and surgical services from birth to aged care.

The transfusion service is a part of the Sydney South West Pathology Group and
provides over 12000 units of red cells for transfusion in the hospital each year.

For more examples of better practice


case studies visit www.blood.gov.au
Why the change to RFID tagging?
Prior to the implementation of RFID tagging, blood and blood products were tracked using a paper
based sign-out register completed by nursing and medical staff when removing and returning blood
from the operating theatre fridge. However, this process was often not completed correctly, or at all, as
during September 2011 60% of blood removed from the operating theatre blood fridge was not signed
out. This raised concerns about the safety of reusing products that had been returned to the fridge. Use
of a paper register also carries the risk that a blood bag could be dispensed to the wrong patient. RFID
tracking can reduce these risks by providing more accurate and real time information to hospital and
transfusion service staff.

What is RFID?
RFID stands for Radio Frequency Identification. It is a
wireless, non-contact form of communication which uses
electromagnetic radio waves to transfer data between a tag
and a reader. RFID tags consist of a small circuit board
coupled to an antenna. Passive RFID tags are powered by
temporary electromagnetic fields which facilitate the
transmission of radio frequency data from tag to reader.
Tags can be read even if covered by an object or not visible
and hundreds of tags can be read at a time. RFID tagged
blood products can transmit pack details and patient
identification information to a computer or hand held
device. A blood bag equipped with an RFID label

How did Liverpool Hospital implement RFID tagging?

After considering several other potential


solutions, Liverpool hospital decided to
pursue the implementation of low
frequency RFID tagging of blood. In
November 2011 a business case was
prepared for an RFID smart blood fridge to
be located in the operating theatre.
Although there were multiple vendors in
Australia offering differing RFID solutions,
none had a system in use, meaning that
Liverpool Hospital would be the first
Australian hospital to implement such a
system.
The RFID fridge in use at Liverpool Hospital
The hospital budget, as always, was under
pressure and so a cost sharing agreement was negotiated whereby the hospital paid a one off cost for
the fridge and the pathology department pays for the ongoing costs of the RFID tags. The business case
was approved in July 2012 on the conditions that the fridge was compliant with Australian standards
(AS3864), the software was user friendly, and the vendor would refund the cost of both the fridge and
software if the system did not work. The vendor’s software was based on an existing commercial
inventory management program and had to be modified for the purpose of tracking blood. The fridge
chosen for the project was imported from France and retrofitted with the software to ensure AS3864
compliance. The fridge was delivered to the hospital in June 2013 and ready for use by December 2013.

For more examples of better practice case studies visit www.blood.gov.au


How does the RFID Smart Fridge work?
Blood is dispensed from the laboratory based on a written request form. The RFID tag is added to the
unit at the time of dispensing, which associates it with the matched patient and then scanned out using
the specialised software for transport to the operating theatre. Theatre staff place the blood in the
fridge after scanning their personal identification to unlock the fridge. When the door is closed, a scan is
initiated which looks for any added products. The scan will automatically add the product to the fridge’s
inventory displayed on the screen at the fridge and hold it for the appropriate patient.

RFID Smart Fridge interface

When blood is required for transfusion, a theatre staff member brings the appropriate request form
identifying the patient by their distinctive medical record number to the operating theatre smart fridge.
Once the patient’s name and date of birth details have been confirmed by checking details on the
screen against the request slip, the staff identification card is scanned to open the door and remove the
blood. When the door is closed a scan is initiated which automatically identifies that the product has
been removed from the fridge. If the incorrect product has been chosen a message appears on screen
accompanied by an audible alarm alerting the staff member to the discrepancy.

Error message

For more examples of better practice case studies visit www.blood.gov.au


What were the challenges involved in implementing the
RFID fridge and how were they overcome?
With the implementation of any new system, especially being pioneers in Australia, there
were a few hurdles that Tony Greenfield, the principal scientist, and his team had to overcome. In
Operating Theatre sometimes the situation is life threatening and clinical staff can be impatient.
Electronic systems may experience performance delays or can fail, requiring a way to bypass the
problem (a key to open the locked door is available). The software has experienced some bugs and
connectivity issues, which led to some of the tags not being detected correctly. The use of a wired
network instead of wireless is being investigated to see if it would assist with these issues, though the
vendor has released a new generation of software for future sites. While there has been some feedback
that RFID tagging has made the process of retrieving blood more complex for theatre staff, a
considerable amount of effort has been put in to training staff to use the system properly, including
ensuring that bags are oriented properly in the fridge to ensure the tags are consistently detected.

Are there any other applications?


Albumex and Prothrombinex are other blood products that are routinely stored in the theatre fridge. By
applying an RFID tag to these products, they can also be tracked to patient, staff member, date and time
of use. Anything that a tag can be attached to can be associated with a patient using the software,
allowing well documented storage of small supplies of various products outside of the laboratory.

How have the changes impacted daily life at Liverpool Hospital?


Since the implementation of the RFID system,
medical and transfusion staff have much more “I am no longer worried about the safety of the
confidence in the cold chain compliance of red
blood cells being used in the hospital. Knowing products in our fridge”. –Tony Greenfield,
that blood has not had any unauthorised Principal Scientist, Transfusion
excursions means that blood can be safely used
or returned to stock for use on another occasion.

For more information


For information on this and other case studies visit www.blood.gov.au/case-studies

To see a presentation by Tony Greenfield on Liverpool Hospital’s implementation of their RFID fridge
visit http://www.blood.gov.au/system/files/documents/2014-session-6-5-tony-greenfield-the-rfid-
blood-fridge-one-year-on2.pdf

Contact Officers and Acknowledgements


Thank you to the following people/organisations that made this case study possible.
For further information please contact:
Vimlesh Dhir, Sydney South West Pathology Service (SSWPS) Blood Bank Liverpool
Hospital. [email protected]
Rajesh Kumar – Director, Wish-Med Pty Ltd
E-mail: [email protected] web: www.wishmed.com.au

For more examples of better practice case studies visit www.blood.gov.au

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