A recent article in Becker’s ASC Review discusses “3 Opportunities for radio frequency identification in anesthesia.”
RFID technology experts from Intelliguard® RFID Solutions l MEPS Real-Time, Inc. were interviewed to provide information on how RFID can help to better manage inventory without impeding workflow, allow anesthesiologists to focus on their clinical responsibilities, and streamline communication between the OR and pharmacy.
How RFID in Anesthesia Helps
The article highlights three critical benefits of RFID in Anesthesia:
Managing anesthesia medications without negatively affecting workflow
Shariq Hussain, president and CEO at MEPS Real-Time, explains how RFID for medication management in the OR makes for zero disruption to procedural workflows. "The technology used by MEPS® is passive RFID," he says.
He compares that to bar codes which require human interaction.
For example, the Intelliguard® Linked Visibility Inventory System™ for anesthesia drug management securely stores drugs in each operating room. Access-controlled locking records each user interaction and provides the security needed for narcotics storage.
Every time an Intelliguard® LVIS™ drawer is closed, the Intelliguard® RFID inventory management system captures and timestamps data on every medication removed or returned.
And because the Intelliguard® LVIS™ automatically tracks inventory upon removal, highly valued open matrix access is granted to anesthesia care teams – speeding access to medications and virtually eliminating the practice of pre-drawing medications for multiple patients in advance.
With RFID, anesthesiologists can focus on patient care
Too often in the operating room, anesthesiologists must manually track medication use when they should ideally be focused on their patients.
As Valerie Fritz, vice president of marketing at MEPS Real-Time explains, "The anesthesiologist should be able to concentrate on patient care, and not have to also be an inventory manager in the OR."
What makes the focus on anesthesiologists and RFID such a critical opportunity is that they uniquely prescribe, dispense and administer anesthesia medications. Jay Williams, vice president of sales and business development at MEPS Real-Time, states, "They have all of those functions that are taking place inside of the OR, and the focus really needs to be on the patient, not on being worried about scanning items in and out of the cabinet."
Better communication between the OR and the hospital pharmacy
Shariq Hussain lists concerns that hospital pharmacists frequently bring up as it relates to anesthesia trays and the OR:
- Not knowing what happens with the trays once they leave the pharmacy and enter the OR
- Worrying about medication stockouts in the operating room
- Extreme stress about patient well being and medication access
Better for the pharmacy to be able to remotely monitor anesthesia products in the OR and be able to pro-actively restock critical inventory.
As Valerie Fritz explains, "If something is going out of stock, the pharmacy knows it before the inventory is zero."
RFID ensures that the operating room is no longer a black hole for anesthesia drugs.
Learn More about RFID in Anesthesia
Read the full article and visit Intelliguard® RFID Solutions for more information on the revolutionary new Linked Visibility Inventory System™ for anesthesia drug management.
LVIS™ uses advanced RFID technology to provide a non-disruptive, user-friendly experience for anesthesiologists, while providing pharmacies the real-time information they need to right size inventory, ensure safeguards that protect patient safety and personal accountability, reconcile usage for revenue cycle management and assure the right drugs in the right quantities are available where and when they’re needed.
