Technology innovation increases efficiency on the ward

Smart facilities based on internet of things technologies are expected to improve medical service levels and efficiency, as well as patients' experiences in hospitals.

Wuxi No 3 People's Hospital has already established a partnership with BayNexus to launch a smart care system using radio frequency identification technologies. It is the first time a Chinese hospital has introduced low power ultra high frequency RFID technology into medical services.

According to the hospital, this system enables patient information confirmation, real-time acquisition of medical data, surgery and nursing operation data validation, and automatic recording.

Relying on cloud computing technologies, a series of hospital management systems for electronic patient recording, laboratory information, integrated office work, medical image archiving and communication can be connected to medical staff, drugs and equipment in real-time, providing complete medical care solutions and optimizing the medical service process.

The hospital management system mainly includes a proprietary RFID smart terminal, also known as Smart Digital Assistant, and related user terminal software.

This SDA is leading the industry in compact multi-input handheld devices for healthcare applications, according to CEO and Founder of BayNexus Liu Jun.

It also includes background information interaction and processing server and application software packages, as well as corresponding electronic wristbands, medical staff badges and drug labels.

BayNexus, headquartered in Virginia, the United States, has pioneered the integration of industrial-grade RFID readers and barcode scanners into the industry’s smallest form-factor to help various enterprises to meet increasing demand for real-time updates, mobility, efficiency and productivity.

In the healthcare industry, these RFID solutions help to reduce clinical errors, improve asset management and implement real-time services that ensure patients receive better care, the company said.

The country has been accelerating its pace in modernizing information management, which takes place mainly in hospitals’ finance and material management divisions.

In contrast, doctors mainly use the clinical information management platform to keep medical records, for quality control and for critical value reminders.

A smart intelligence application that focuses on improving medical care with precise services is relatively rare.

"Inpatient care is the most important and difficult task for hospital care," said Li Jianping, vice-president of Wuxi No 3 People's Hospital.

"Hospital care work is usually intense and it can be easy to make mistakes," Li said.

Management in this environment is mainly manual, which makes misinformation a common problem. The use of information intelligence tools can help to improve nursing care.

The company's RFID hospital smart care systems have also been used in more than 30 hospitals in China and five hospitals in other countries. More than 60 hospitals have been negotiating with the company to introduce the system to their institutions.