Business
Question 1:
The Radio Frequency Identification technology in the healthcare industry is improving the efficiency of the medical staff and the supporting staff due to the proper tracking system via bar-coding of the patients and the inventory system of the hospital.
The bar-coding technology first benefit at the time of admission in the hospital is that the staff of the hospital can swap their membership cards having a unique bar code, in the RFID machines to inform the authorities about their presence in the hospital.
Moreover, enhance the controls on the attendance, the attendance process of the medical staff can be authorized by their thumb impression to calculate the actual hours of labor to calculate the salaries. Therefore, the use of bar-coding can reduce the paperwork and the wastage of time for the management and the medical staff in relation to the attendance issues and the hours worked. Similarly, at the time of the admission of the patient, the medical staff attaches the RFID wrist branding device which has a unique bar code to the patient.
The process of bar-coding keeps the data of the patients up to date and it reduces the traditional medical rounds of doctors and the nurses.
The reduction in checkup rounds reduces the labor hours and ultimately reduces the extra salaries for the nurses and other hospital staffs. Therefore, the management of the hospital can use these funds to improve the operations of other departments (Brown, 2011).
Question 2:
Another main advantage of the bar-coding is that it eliminates the chances of wrong medication to the patients. By storing the relevant information in the micro chip, the nurses can retrieve the data of the patient via scanning the unique bar code of the patient and verify the medication before giving to the patient. Moreover, the nurses can update the data of the patient according the schedule for the next medication or meals. In most of the cases, the surgeons and the specialists require the assistance of the nurses in the complicated cases in the hospital.
The wrist branding device has the electronic chip which can store the information about the patient and the prescribed treatment for the patient. Therefore, the junior staff such as nurses can attend to the patients and take care of their medication by using the data available against the unique bar code of the patient, instead of waiting for the doctors and the specialist. Moreover, the wrist branding can update the medication given to the patient to minimize the chances of errors (Brown, 2011).
Question 3:
The hospital’s specimen collection center is one of the most complicated departments of the hospital because of its sensitivity and importance. The results from the specimen collection center can directs the treatment of the patients, therefore, it is highly recommended to install a proper bar-coding system to make the system more reliable and efficient.
In case of lost files or specimen, the patients have to suffer with the expensive test fee, which create problems for the patients and the staff members. Therefore, by installing the bar-coding system in the specimen collection center, the chances of losing the samples and the reports will be eliminated. The system will store the data in the unique file number and it can be retrieved anytime in the future for medication (Brown, 2011).
Question 4:
The use of bar-coding system in the pharmacy of the hospital can help the staff and the patient in the purchase of the correct medicines. Usually the names of the medicines and the subscriptions written by the hand are difficult for the patients to read. Therefore, by using the bar code of the patient, the staff at the pharmacy of the hospital can find and provide the prescribed medicines to the nurses and the patients in right quantity.
Similarly, on the other hand, the use of bar codes can reduce the chances of errors from the staff at the pharmacy of the hospital. Moreover, if the medicines are not available at the pharmacy, the staff at the pharmacy can contact the relevant doctor and inquire about the alternative medicines before selling it to the patients.
The information about the relevant doctor is also available on the chip of the patient. The installation of the bar-coding system in the pharmacy of the hospital can assist the inventory manager to analyze the sales related to the hospital patients and the other customers.
The inventory manager can analyze the sales trend and order the medicines for the other customers as per the demand to maximize the sales from the pharmacy (Brown, 2011).
Question 5:
The hospital material management can be more efficient if the bar-coding system is properly installed in the purchasing and material management department of the hospital. The medical care industry is a more sensitive industry as compared to the other industries. Therefore, it is of the highest importance that the management of the hospital must keep the sensitive materials such as body organs in the best system to facilitate the patients on a timely basis.
The equipments of the operations must be disposed after their use accurately and the relevant staff must update the records to report the purchasing department about the inventory level at the right time.
The bar-coding system can be updated easily and the relevant staff members can access the database at any time to check the inventory levels and re-order on a timely basis. The RFID technology and the bar-coding system can be used to update the list of equipment and the medicines required by the doctors.
The doctors can access the list of recommended medicines and alter or update the list according to their knowledge. This facility can inform the purchasing department to stop the purchasing of medicines and the equipment at the right time and start purchasing as per the new recommended list. Therefore, the installation of bar-coding system can improve the efficiency and the accuracy of the hospital material management system (Brown, 2011).
Work Cited
Brown, Chris. "5 Advantages of RFID in Healthcare – Part Four." 5 Advantages of RFID in
Healthcare – Part Four. 11 Mar. 2011. Web. 18 Feb. 2016. <http://blogs.zebra.com/blog/bid/51143/5-Advantages-of-RFID-in-Healthcare-Part-Four>.
