Radio Frequency Identification System for Asset Tracking and Inventory Management in Hospitals

Asset tracking and maintaining records of consumables in hospital industry has been monotonous labor work for decades. Technological evolution has alleviated manual work which further restrained erratum approach in data management. The high-value assets in hospitals are misplaced, lost, or purloined which affects hospital revenue and patients security. The Radio Frequency Identification system based on wireless communication yields a solution to inappropriate data management. The system is comprised of software integrated with hardware for management and tracking of assets by addressing the solution to the internal pilfering of assets and problems encountered during the tedious vendor invoice payment process. This system consists of Radio Frequency Identification reader interfaced with Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 connected to the back-end Microsoft SQL (Structured Query Language) server database. The reader is placed at the checkpoints and in the drug store in the hospital environment. The Radio Frequency Identification tags attached to the assets are identified by the reader and database is updated with information stored in tags. The arrival and outgoing timing of assets are recorded for security purpose. In the case that if any assets get misplaced or purloined the timing and location of the asset will be traced. Furthermore, a brief elucidation of the system is being provided along with benefits of prolonged usage in the health care industry.