Software Approaches to Support RFID Temperature Monitoring for Blood Products

Abstract

Blood transfusion has always been crucial and strictly monitored. Currently, there are many standards for managing transfusion blood bags. One standard is maintaining the temperature of blood bags during transfusion. Transfusion staff are expected to check the temperature of the transfused blood bag in real time and take action if the temperature exceeds the limit. However, many healthcare organizations have not implemented procedures by which transfusion staff can instantly track the temperature of a transfused blood bag. Therefore, a temperature monitoring solution that displays the temperature data in real time is necessary. In this solution, radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology is used to actively detect the temperature of the blood bag and upload the temperature record to the web server. This research was carried out to analyze the benefits and limitations of a web-based RFID temperature monitoring application. The first chapter is a literature review on RFID technology, application of RFID drug tracking, and prior research into blood transfusion and safety concerns in using RFID on blood products. Next, a prototype was created by following a design science approach, and was evaluated in simulations and a review of the simulation process. The potential benefits and limitations of the prototype application are discussed in detail. Finally, future developments and researches stemming from the present work are suggested.