Psychiatric Ward Gets Help from RFID

Filed in archive Healthcare on October 26, 2006

Rockhampton Base Hospital in Australia was in a quagmire when construction activity at their premises damaged their alarm system but then it adopted RFID for taking care of their problem. An alarm system was a necessity at their psychiatric ward so the hospital started using battery powered RFID cards for sending alerts which has now replaced the traditional alarm system at their premises.

Taking into consideration the safety of everybody at the hospital, Protrac iD's Duress Alarm Card is being used which is a combination of long-range wireless duress transmitter, proximity access control and photo ID in a single credit card sized device. The battery powered RFID tag operates at 433 MHz.

In case the nurse requires any help she needs to push a button at the back of the card and a signal is sent to the RFID reader alerting a co -workers that immediate assistance is required. As soon as the alarm is sent name and photograph of the nurse along with her location gets displayed. You would also find RFID interrogators installed in the whole ward besides gardens and outdoor areas and the tags are continuously emitting radio frequency pulses which then get picked up by the nearest reader.

Certainly it is a boon for the hospital as at times it becomes difficult to handle these special patients and they might put their and the nurse's life in jeopardy and at that moment RFID would come handy.