The Application of RFID on Inpatient Medication Administration to Improve Patient Safety and Reduce Adverse Drug Events

In developed countries as many as one in ten patients is harmed while receiving hospital care, estimates 1.4 million people worldwide suffer from infections acquired in hospitals, and approximate 380,000 to 450,000 preventable Adverse drug events (ADEs) occurring annually in the United States. Medical errors and ADEs could be prevented by building a safer healthcare system. Therefore, the aim of this article attempts to improve patient identification, and inpatient medications. Recently, Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology has been applied for patient identification, location monitor and alarm in hospital management. We developed the RFID on Inpatient Medication Administration System (RIMAS), integration with the Hospital Information Systems (HIS) and reengineer the inpatient medication processes to improve patient safety and reduce ADEs. The RIMAS system integrating RFID into the existing HIS to improve the efficiency of hospital management and patient safety, and decrease the risk of medication errors thereby increase higher quality of patient care. Key-Words: RFID, Patient safety, Adverse drug events, Medication error