RFID in the consignment store

RFID significantly speeds up and simplifies the management of consignment stores in healthcare – from ongoing inventory to unambiguous assignment to the patient.

THE CORE PROBLEM

Consignment stores save money – managing them is laborious

Manufacturers of medical technology, implants and increasingly also special medicines provide their products to hospitals and medical practices free of charge in consignment stores. Billing only takes place upon consumption – which saves enormous costs.

However, administering these stores is not always easy: often only parts of so-called “kits” are used, and storage temperatures and expiry dates also have to be monitored.

THE SOLUTION

PJM tags from SATO: every unit uniquely identified

SATO’s special PJM tags operate in the 13.56 MHz frequency range and have their own ID. This means even items with the same batch number can be distinguished.

With a reading tunnel, up to 3,500 transponders in a box are scanned within seconds – regardless of how the transponder is oriented or whether it is on liquids such as blood bags.

TWO APPROACHES

How to use RFID in the consignment store

• →Smart cabinets at the customer: they enable an ongoing inventory of the consigned goods and additionally control access. This rules out used items being put back or unauthorised persons accessing, for example, medicines.
• →Reading tunnel at the manufacturer: hospitals and medical practices take the parts they need from a box containing the kits and send the box back. The manufacturer pushes it through the reading tunnel, immediately identifies the removed items and can replace and bill them straight away.

PATIENT SAFETY

Free of mix-ups, right up to the bedside

Medicines and implants identified with RFID tags can be linked to the patient without mix-ups via a corresponding patient wristband. This protects lives – and the treating specialists.

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