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Hospitals have latched on to radio frequency identification technology as way to track everything from surgical sponges and monitors to patient beds, but a study released Tuesday from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) suggests RFID systems can cause "potentially hazardous incidents in medical devices." Few devices demonstrated no interference.
Dutch researchers conducted the study as part of a project looking at using RFID to track blood and medical supplies. They did the research in a controlled, non-clinical setting to assess incidents of electromagnetic interference by RFID on critical care equipment.
The tests were performed in a one-bed patient room in an intensive care unit (ICU) and with no patients present. Electromagnetic interference from two systems, one active RFID systems that require batteries, and another passive, which does not, were assessed using 41 medical devices from 22 different manufacturers.
Each has a tag attached to the object being tracked and a reader that communicates with tags. Of the 123 tests conducted, researchers found 34 incidents of electromagnetic interference. The median distance at which the systems caused interference was 30 cm. The passive 868-MHz RFID signal induced a higher number of incidents (26 incidents in 41 EMI tests; 63%) compared with the active 125-kHz RFID signal (8 incidents in 41 EMI tests; 20%).
A panel of medical specialists determined 22 incidents were potentially hazardous. The tests were conducted with external pacemakers, mechanical ventilators, infusion/syringe pumps, dialysis devices, defibrillators, monitors and anesthesia devices. Interference changed breathing machines' ventilation rates and caused syringe pumps to stop, among other things.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulate device manufacturers, issued draft guidelines last year identifying RFID as a potential safety concern.
The guidelines state: A key factor contributing to a wireless medical device's safety and effectiveness is the limited amount of RF spectrum available and potential competition among wireless technologies for the same spectrum. This is managed in different ways for different RF wireless communication technologies that may be available for use in healthcare communication and health informatics exchange.
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