TTSH launches system to track surgical tools

TTSH launches system to track surgical tools
By Vimita Mohandas | Posted: 10 August 2011 2257 hrs

SINGAPORE: In its bid to become more efficient, Tan Tock Seng Hospital recently launched the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for surgical set tracking.

It now takes the hospital staff a minute to recall a contaminated surgical set, down from about eight minutes previously.

This technology, which costs some S$147,000, was developed jointly with A*STAR.

The RFID technology notes the movements of surgical sets by tracking where the sets have been in real-time.

The automated system has helped cut the amount of time spent on recalling contaminated surgical sets by 87 per cent.

As a result, Tan Tock Seng Hospital said potential infections are better contained.

Not only that, the RFID technology has also improved staff's productivity.

Nurse manager Han Tiew Peng said: "In the old system without RFID, we could have used about eight to 10 staff members to recall about 700 sets in a potential case.

"But now with RFID, a lot of time has been saved using fewer staff and less time because we can actually use the current set location with RFID technology to trace the sets. The staff can then go to the location and retrieve the sets immediately."

With this technology, staff members can log on to find out the place where the surgical sets can be found.

And by looking at the number of sets in store, they will also be able to know how many surgical sets will be distributed to the operating theatres.

The automated system can now capture information which previously had to be done manually, like patient information.

It also highlights to staff any expired equipment.

For a start, the hospital has tagged about 300 surgical sets and aims to increase the number to about 3,000 by the end of the year.

- CNA/wk

- wong chee tat :)