15-03-15, 11:10
In the Netherlands DPM reading on medical instruments seems the way to go for a lot of hospitals.
Tracking of medical instruments and knowing what instruments have been used on what patient is a wanted feature.
But implementing this technology inside hospitals is not going very fast, it's a complex operation.
Tracking medical instruments can be done in several way's. Most of you know that Aesculap/BBraun is putting DPM datamatrix codes on their instruments by default.
Now Storz is also doing the same thing for a while and most likely more manufacturers are following because this technology is easy to implement for them.
They are already putting their name on their instruments so it's a small step to include a DPM datamatrix code.
Easier then putting RFID on their instruments. I think that RFID has the future in tracking but this technology needs some more time to evolve so it can be used on small medical instruments as well. The thing is, if you are choosing a technology, you want to use that particular technology as a over all solution, and that's where the problem lies.
I believe in tracking medical instruments as well and that doing this it can help organizations give insights and perhaps some cost reduction as well.
But where do you start? Starting a big project with RFID or do you start small and start with Datamatrix?
This depends on your hospital roadmap perhaps, If you have the budget and are willing to pioneer, then go for RFID.
If you don't have the budget and but want learn how to implement and think about processes, then Datamatrix would be it.
In the end both technologies are doing the same, identifying the instrument. It's the implementation and workflow where the difficulty starts.
Datamatrix will let you start on a smaller scale. Perhaps the 2 technologies can be used next to each other as well?
Tracking of medical instruments and knowing what instruments have been used on what patient is a wanted feature.
But implementing this technology inside hospitals is not going very fast, it's a complex operation.
Tracking medical instruments can be done in several way's. Most of you know that Aesculap/BBraun is putting DPM datamatrix codes on their instruments by default.
Now Storz is also doing the same thing for a while and most likely more manufacturers are following because this technology is easy to implement for them.
They are already putting their name on their instruments so it's a small step to include a DPM datamatrix code.
Easier then putting RFID on their instruments. I think that RFID has the future in tracking but this technology needs some more time to evolve so it can be used on small medical instruments as well. The thing is, if you are choosing a technology, you want to use that particular technology as a over all solution, and that's where the problem lies.
I believe in tracking medical instruments as well and that doing this it can help organizations give insights and perhaps some cost reduction as well.
But where do you start? Starting a big project with RFID or do you start small and start with Datamatrix?
This depends on your hospital roadmap perhaps, If you have the budget and are willing to pioneer, then go for RFID.
If you don't have the budget and but want learn how to implement and think about processes, then Datamatrix would be it.
In the end both technologies are doing the same, identifying the instrument. It's the implementation and workflow where the difficulty starts.
Datamatrix will let you start on a smaller scale. Perhaps the 2 technologies can be used next to each other as well?
