RAIN RFID in Healthcare and What Antenna to Use


 

The implementation of RFID technology, specifically in the healthcare sector, is rising. RFID technology is becoming a favourable asset to healthcare organisations.  

In healthcare, every second counts, and having essential equipment to hand is a matter of life and death. A recent medical survey found that at least one in three nurses spend an hour or more per shift searching for medical equipment to use with their patients. Multiply that with the number of nurses working every day, and you will have a sense of the mass amount of time lost every day.  

But what if we knew where every heart monitor, medication, or surgical knife was at all times? What if every healthcare worker could spend their shift healing and helping people instead of searching for a missing asset?  

RAIN RFID can help!!! Our Times-7 antennas have already been used worldwide to track such items as surgical instruments and essential inventory as well as blood transfusions, organs, and pharmaceutical vaccines. We’ve even tracked patients and ensured the safety of those who have dementia. Not only do we provide the safe dispense of critical items , but we have saved medical staff so much time locating their daily equipment.  

In this blog we will provide you with a couple of typical case studies as well as information on which antenna was used for a successful implementation within the Healthcare sector. 

Patient Visibility and Safety in a Nursing Home  

A nursing home for patients with dementia was fitted with RAIN RFID to increase the visibility and safety of the patients.  

All patients and their caretakers were equipped with a wristband that had a RAIN tag inside.  

Over the doors, they installed an A5060 antenna. Only when a patient approached an entry together with a caretaker would the door open. That way, the patients were unable to leave the nursing home unattended, and their safety was accounted for.  

Why A5060? 

The Times-7 antenna used in this application is the A5060​ multi-patch antenna typically. It was chosen for its powerful and narrow beam, which helps to avoid stray reads over long distances​.The high gain ensured the coverage from the ceiling to the floor. The narrow, curtain-like beam was useful to create a specific read zone that avoids stray reads.  

Furthermore, the antenna was tailored to fit the size of the ceiling tiles of the nursing home. That way, the deployment was simple and dust-free without interrupting the daily routine of the nursing home. 

Reliable Tools for Better Dental Care

The use of RFID in Healthcare can significantly improve patient care quality by monitoring the usage of medical devices, ensuring they are ready for medical treatment. Furthermore, to make sure that enough stock is available where and when it is required.  

Many medical devices include commodity parts that require replacement after a specific time of use. However, the users are often unable to keep track of the usage, so that the quality of performance suffers.  

A company that provides dentists with such tools was looking for a way to track the usage of these critical parts unobtrusively and without disrupting the medical workflow. The solution was once again RAIN RFID. The tools were fitted with an antenna and the commodity part with a tag. Each time the dentist picked up the instrument and attached the commodity part to it, the usage was automatically recorded. After a certain number of times the parts were used, the system would notify the company to restock.  

Why a low-gain PCB antenna? 

The antenna needed to be small enough to fit on the tool and needed to have a certain read distance to avoid picking up the tags of nearby items. Times-7 designed an antenna that fit those requirements.  

From KanBan systems to medical fridges that monitor pharmaceuticals and their expiry date, the use cases of RAIN RFID in healthcare are endless, and we at Times-7 have the correct antenna for your needs. If you need help selecting a suitable antenna, please don’t hesitate to contact us at sales@times-7.com.

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