The hospital uses RFID to ensure that every patient can receive the correct treatment

To ensure that every patient can receive the correct treatment, a new oncology treatment center in Riviera, Switzerland, has adopted the RFID solution.

Using this scheme, the average treatment time for a patient is 10-15 minutes, while the time before using RFID technology is 15-20 minutes. Marc Pachoud, a physician at the Riviera Hospital, said that more importantly, the method of associating the number on the patient ID card with the ID number of the treatment device used by the patient can ensure that the treatment received by the patient will not go wrong.

The hospital uses radiation therapy technology supplier Elekta's high-dose radiation therapy equipment Versa HD, which is to put radiation on the patient's body in need of treatment. The RFID system includes a UHF RFID reader and an RFID tag. The reader is placed on the Versa HD device, and the tag is placed on the ID card carried or worn by the patient. Radiotherapy accessories are also equipped with RFID tags, so that when the patient receives the wrong treatment, the system will automatically send an alarm.

Pachoud said that thanks to RFID technology, the hospital can now safely treat patients, and the average time is only 10 minutes, because the system will automatically notify the technician before the treatment starts whether the correct equipment is used. Without this technology, staff need to manually check each device and compare it with electronic records to ensure that no errors are made.