Dual-Frequency Active RFID Solution for Tracking Patients in a Children´s Hospital. Design Method, Test Procedure, Risk Analysis, and Technical Solution

This work addresses the problem of reliable identification and tracking of children in an intensive care unit in a children´s hospital. Tracking and identification of patients are critical for the clinical risk management process, particularly for a children´s hospital intensive care unit where patients´ identities can easily be confused. This work offers a multilayer approach to the design of the process of identification and tracking; it gives an active radio-frequency identification (RFID) solution that best fits all the given constraints. The paper is divided in the following sections: design (where a multilayer method is provided, including project aims, functional requirements, and technical constraints); risk analysis [a failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) method is used to assess the risks of each stage of the process of patient management]; technical solution with a specific test phase and a review of the risk analysis results. As a result of the proposed approach, we got a strong coherence between the initial aims and the technical solution, improving patient safety and reducing the clinical risk in the process of tracking and identifying patients.