The placement of implantable chips into patients for the purpose of accurately identifying patients and properly storing their medical history records has become a subject of a strong debate. Making sure patients are properly identified before a procedure and storing their health history records for future use has been difficult, if not impossible. The idea of being able to retrieve accurate patient’s medical history for a follow up care without relying on patient’s memory is a challenging task for many healthcare organizations. Many ideas and technologies have been introduced over the years to help solve this problem, but unfortunately the problem is still not fully resolved. There are still many errors in the healthcare due in part by improper record keeping and inaccurate patient identification. One idea that has being in discussion to eliminate these problems for good, is the introduction of a chip or radio frequency identification (RFID) technology implanted into human for the purpose storing medical data and accurately identify patients. VeriChip Corporation is currently the maker of this implantable RFID chip. They are the only corporation cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to make this implantable radio frequency transponder system for humans for the purpose of identifying patients and storing their health history information. The chip was first developed for the use of radar systems by Scottish physicist, Sir Robert Alexander Watson-Watt in 1935 just before World War II. (Roberti, 2007). This technology helps identify approaching planes of the enemy from mile away. Today, RFID has several uses. It is used for animal tracking. It is attached to merchandise in stores to prevent theft. It can be instal... ... middle of paper ... ...(2010). Convenience and safety vs. privacy: the ethics of RFID. Retrieved March 2012 from http://ethicapublishing.com Pillows. J. (2007). Trust-worthy computing: Privacy issues (RFID). Retrieved Marc 2012, from www.citebm.business.illinois.edu Roberti, M. (2007). The History of RFID technology. RetrievedMarch, 2012, from http://rfidjournal.com/article Wolinsky, H. (2006, October). Tagging products and people. espite much controversy; radiofrequency identification chips have great potential in healthcare. Science and Society, 7(10), 965-968. Wen, Y., Chao-Hsien, C., and Zang, L. (2010). The use of RFID in healthcare. Benefits and barriers. Retrieved March 2012 from http://personal.psu.edu. Woo, A., Ranji, U., & Salganicoff, A. (2008). Reducing medical errors with technology. Retrieved March, 2012, from http://kaiseredu.org
Patient personalized health cards are also long underling technology that might provide patient a freedom of owning his/her PHI. Transferring data from one hospital to another wouldn’t be a challenge with this password protected health cards. Privacy wouldn’t be much of an issue as all the information is stored in the chip of the card that can be retrieve by a healthcare provider or by patient when needed.
What is this world coming to? When most of us think of tracking devices they think of primarily negative issues. But that has all changed now. A tracking device the size of a tic tack that can be surgically implanted to provide a tamper proof means of identification, enhanced e-business security, locating lost or missing individuals, monitoring heart rate, vital signs, tracking of the elderly, the location of valuable property, and monitoring the medical conditions of at risk patients, all at the convenience of a button or a phone call (www.allnet). It is called the GPM or as we know it the Global Positioning Microchip. Today I will discuss the ideals of the implanted microchip and some of the technical, social, economic, ethical and practical implications of its technology. Furthermore exploring some of the benefits and dangers of such a device. Invented entirely for animals man has expanded its uses to stolen cars tracking devices, criminal rehabilitations, and experimental animal observations. The chip has come a long way but where will it go from here.
...uys out. In conclusion, a warning, technology is there to guide and help a physician it is not, nor has it ever been intended to replace the physician patient relationship.
Advances in technology have influences our society at home, work and in our health care. It all started with online banking, atm cards, and availability of children’s grades online, and buying tickets for social outings. There was nothing electronic about going the doctor’s office. Health care cost has been rising and medical errors resulting in loss of life cried for change. As technologies advanced, the process to reduce medical errors and protect important health care information was evolving. In January 2004, President Bush announced in the State of the Union address the plan to launch an electronic health record (EHR) within the next ten years (American Healthtech, 2012).
Miller, R., & Sim, I. (2004). Use of electronic medical records: Barriers and solutions. Retrieved June 29, 2011, from http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/23/2/116.short
...tions resulting from application of RFID tags involves the widespread monitoring of objects, and in some cases an individual's identity, with or without their knowledge. Legislation and civil rights interest groups reinforce public knowledge of RFID technology, whether in the market or a medical setting. The public needs to be conscious of technology, to be able to defend themselves against inherent threats to their personal rights.
Smart cards give emergency doctors more time for patients ... (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.albertahealthservices.ca/5272 .asp
Within the scope of our findings, there were no major conflicting ideas about the use of electronic barcode medication-administration systems. One study even reported that there were no new types of error in the medication administration process after implementing the barcode medication-administration system into their care (Seibert,H.H., et. al, 2014). There were however some differences in the type of barcode scanning systems used in the research, which can cause some conflicting ideas as to which system was better for reducing medication errors or more user
For instance, the patient’s record can be filtered on registration to a holding up room, increasing proficiency. On the off chance that the patient gets a test in a medicinal facility territory, his/her full record can be accessible on landing of the patient so as to regulate the test under right conventions. In the meantime, at every RFID read point, the patient's spatial area is recorded. According to duty of doctor this device might be life-saving. Assuming that the doctor who might care of patient and RFID reader can give them information about
One of the first problems with Digital Angel and the Verichip is the sparseness of information relating to the technology. A quick tour of the Applied Digital Solutions’ Verichip website will give you a quick synopsis of what RFIDs are, and then list a few possible uses of the technology. The Frequently Asked Questions page on the website is equally shortchanged on information, with just a short tidbit on how the chips are installed, among other information. With a device that people will be living with for the rest of their lives (should they choose to bestow it upon them), I feel that many would rather have available detailed information on the technology. This is even more applicable when you consider the hostility that many people breed to technology that could lead to their mass surveillance (i.e. fear of conspiracy); many of these people’s concerns will likely be alleviated just by releasing more detailed info out on the web for the public to see.
Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a computerized ID innovation that uses radio recurrence waves to exchange information between an onlooker and things that have RFID gadgets, or tags, joined. The tags hold a microchip and receiving wire, and work at universally distinguished standard frequencies. Barcodes are much smaller, lighter and easier than RFID but RFID offers significant advantages. One major advantage of RFID is that the innovation doesn't oblige any observable pathway the tags could be perused as long as they are inside the range of the spectator, whereas in barcodes in order to read the barcode the barcode scanner should close around 10-15 fts. In RFID data, for example, part and serial numbers, assembling dates and support history is put away on the tags and catches which help in maintenance of equipments. RFID technology as high value for asset management and inventory systems
Smart cards also can provide complete identification in certain industries like healthcare. There are numerous benefits of using smart cards for identification. In circumstance like there is a patient who is brought in unconscious or unable to speak, these cards can be used by health professionals to identify him or her to give the appropriate treatments. Now, there’s smart health cards that can improve the security and privacy of patient information which can reduce healthcare fraud. They also support new processes for portable medical records and provide secure access to emergency medical information.
Medical records are already a huge part of the medical industry and pretty soon electronic medical records will be a standard in all doctors’ offices and hospitals. These records are still in the integration process so not all doctors and hospitals are using them yet. There needs to be a way to reassure patients that when they have their information entered into electronic records they are safe and that the people who work with those records are handling them properly. Electronic medical records also need to be protected from outside threats as well as any accident that could occur with software or hardware malfunctions. Medical entities need educating to ensure these records are going to be protected.
Hospitals of the 21st century have been marked with a lot of improvement. Technological solutions offer lower cost and increased efficiency without compromising service users’ care and treatment using future technology (Mcnew, 2014). The use of monitoring equipment such as intrusion detection, video surveillance, and access control helps in maximizing security within hospitals (Mcnew, 2014). For instance, hospital can program the front door to show anything walking into the hospital and people leaving the hospital. The equipment installed for monitoring includes Sipass central stations, 385 card readers and cameras. Electronic medical records are a common aspect in hospital that enables nurses and doctors to review patient documents within the hospital with the help of a chip (Stein & Chiplin, 2014). Electronic wireless devices are use in the modern hospital that enables employees to locate everything within the hospital by just keying in into the device. The use of Alaris pump which is a modern drug measuring device with an alarm to indicate when a doctor exceeds the dosage shows the extent to which organizations are now investing in technology (Stein & Chiplin, 2014). Cameras are now used in surgery rooms to reduce errors and reduce infection of patients with new diseases. Another device includes the voice communication system that allows patients to bypass nurse and talk directly with their doctors.
The debate on whether the increasing implementation of RFID is constantly going back and forth. As the technology has found its way into licenses and passports. The continuing theme of this, is that the RFID in various forms of identification will allow certain authorized individuals the ability to access information on a specific person and have resources such a criminal record, known aliases, or any other information that might protect against a security threat. Although the basic belief is that only having simple basic information stored on RFID tags is harmless, the truth is that even the most simplest of data can eventually become important. Tadayoshi Kohno thinks the security of information should be taken seriously, “Information and uses evolve over time and these things can reveal more than we initially expect.” (Naone, pg 73)