Biometric Patient Identification Systems.
For proper management of any healthcare facility, efficient management and maintenance of a comprehensive patient database is crucial. With the evolution of technology, management of a manual patient database is no longer tenable. Therefore, many healthcare facilities have resorted to more technologically oriented, faster, accurate and efficient systems of patient management. Key among these patient management systems has been biometric patient identification systems.
Before attempting to understand and investigate biometric patient identification, we must first ask the question; what is biometrics? Biometrics refers to metrics related to specific human characteristics …show more content…
(Jain, Bolle, & Pankati, 1999)
Development of a Biometric patient identification system.
The most vital step in the development of a patient identification is the identification of which specific biometric to use. The healthcare providers should look for a trait that meets all or at least most of the above criteria. The most used biometric traits are fingerprints, palm prints, facial recognition, among others.
The next step is the selection of the system of the identification system to use. There are two main systems of identification that can be used; Radio-Frequency based systems and non- radio frequency-based systems.
Radio frequency identification (RFID) is the wireless use of electro-magnetic fields to transfer data. This is for the purpose of automatically identifying and tracking tags attached to objects. The tags contain electronically stored information though some are powered by electromagnetic induction from magnetic fields produced near the reader. Some of them collect energy from interrogating radio waves and act as a passive transponder. Some have local power sources, e.g., batteries and may operate several metres away from the reader. These are advantageous in that they don’t have to be within sight of the reader. They may be embedded within an object that the patient carries like a card, neck-tag, etc. RFID is a vital method in Automatic Data Identification and Capture (AIDC). …show more content…
The most common have been patient mis-identification due to the poor choice of biometric traits and system overload due to a high number of patients that leads to software crashes and loss of biometric data templates. Unavailability of data back-up may lead to loss of vital data and immense losses. Also, improper computer security software installations have lead to the breach of the firewalls and infiltration of the system by viruses and hackers. Also, some biometric traits can are vulnerable to burglary. For example, barcode readers can be used by anyone in possession of the code with the barcode even if he/she is not the legitimate owner. So far, the fatal failure of the system has been patient mis-identification. This incident is reported to have happened in a hospital in the state of Virginia, USA. The system mis-identified a patient who ended up undergoing an abdominal operation not meant for
For proper management of any healthcare facility, efficient management and maintenance of a comprehensive patient database is crucial. With the evolution of technology, management of a manual patient database is no longer tenable. Therefore, many healthcare facilities have resorted to more technologically oriented, faster, accurate and efficient systems of patient management. Key among these patient management systems has been biometric patient identification systems.
Before attempting to understand and investigate biometric patient identification, we must first ask the question; what is biometrics? Biometrics refers to metrics related to specific human characteristics …show more content…
(Jain, Bolle, & Pankati, 1999)
Development of a Biometric patient identification system.
The most vital step in the development of a patient identification is the identification of which specific biometric to use. The healthcare providers should look for a trait that meets all or at least most of the above criteria. The most used biometric traits are fingerprints, palm prints, facial recognition, among others.
The next step is the selection of the system of the identification system to use. There are two main systems of identification that can be used; Radio-Frequency based systems and non- radio frequency-based systems.
Radio frequency identification (RFID) is the wireless use of electro-magnetic fields to transfer data. This is for the purpose of automatically identifying and tracking tags attached to objects. The tags contain electronically stored information though some are powered by electromagnetic induction from magnetic fields produced near the reader. Some of them collect energy from interrogating radio waves and act as a passive transponder. Some have local power sources, e.g., batteries and may operate several metres away from the reader. These are advantageous in that they don’t have to be within sight of the reader. They may be embedded within an object that the patient carries like a card, neck-tag, etc. RFID is a vital method in Automatic Data Identification and Capture (AIDC). …show more content…
The most common have been patient mis-identification due to the poor choice of biometric traits and system overload due to a high number of patients that leads to software crashes and loss of biometric data templates. Unavailability of data back-up may lead to loss of vital data and immense losses. Also, improper computer security software installations have lead to the breach of the firewalls and infiltration of the system by viruses and hackers. Also, some biometric traits can are vulnerable to burglary. For example, barcode readers can be used by anyone in possession of the code with the barcode even if he/she is not the legitimate owner. So far, the fatal failure of the system has been patient mis-identification. This incident is reported to have happened in a hospital in the state of Virginia, USA. The system mis-identified a patient who ended up undergoing an abdominal operation not meant for