Could RFID mean RIP for hospital patients?

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 26 June 2008 12:17

Your IT - Home IT

While it's relatively easy to qualify the tags and readers used in the hospitals (eg to track surgical instruments and medical devices) and in the longer term to establish standards for devices' resistance to EMI caused by qualified tags, what about tags brought into hospitals by patients and visitors? Examples include public transport smartcards and inventory control tags on gifts. People are used to switching off their phones when in hospitals, but RFID tags can't be deactivated that easily, if at all.

Since the hazardous interference detected in the tests occurred when the tags were at a median distance of 30cm (less than 12in) from the equipment, the risk seems slight and there is little likelihood of a rash of patient fatalities. But the research does sound a warning that the the manufactures of medical equipment should harden their designs against external interference.
 
The research was carried out at the Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.