New York''s Jacobi Medical Center has commissioned Siemens Business Services to test an RFID-based patient tracking system, in which patients are fitted with an RFID wristband upon admittance to the hospital, allowing staff to use suitably equipped PDAs and tablet PCs to view their information at every stage of treatment.

     When patients are admitted to the hospital they are fitted with the wristband that carries their unique patient number. Hospital staff can then use PDAs and tablet PCs equipped with RFID readers to identify patients and gain online access to a database containing each patient''s entire medical history. Of the 2,000 patients treated at the hospital each month, 200 will be added to the pilot project. 116.30.147.133 This article is copyright 2004 UsingRFID.com.

     And apart from this involvement in the medical sector, Siemens is also a member of the Metro Group''s Future Store Initiative in Germany, contributing experience gained from its RFID project for Kaufhof Warenhaus AG.

     Siemens has already implemented more than a dozen RFID projects for clients including Airbus, the Kaufhof department store, and the mail order company Otto-Versand. But according to Winfried Holz, head of global IT solutions at Siemens Business Services, this is only the beginning. "Interest in RFID solutions is growing in leaps and bounds, with new enquiries coming in almost every day," said Holz.

     "We will continue to invest in the development of RFID solutions, because this technology has a bright future," Holz confirmed. "Analysts from Forrester Research predict strong growth for the technology. While about 1 billion RFID chips were produced in 2003, this figure is expected to increase to 45 billion by 2009."

 

 

 

 

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