Using RFID for Tracking Medication in Hospitals

During a weeklong period in May 2004, the Physical Language Workshop at the MIT Media Lab tackled the question of how RFID tags and readers might be used in a hospital setting. A scenario involving medication tracking was developed, and a concept sketch video and a demo-ready, RFID-enabled hospital cart were produced.

Concept video
(Animation without sound, QuickTime, 22.6MB)

The concept video depicts a scenario that begins with the doctor writing a prescription for a patient and ends with the nurse giving the prescribed medication to the patient. Between those 2 endpoints, RFID tags and readers are used by the pharmacist and the nurse to verify the type and dosage of medication and to track the state of a particular dosage of medication.

Demo video
(Live action with music and voiceover, QuickTime, 9.7MB)

The demo video shows the use of the RFID-enabled hospital cart that was prototyped during this weeklong project. It brings to life the section of the concept video where the nurse is at the patient's bedside. The nurse performs 3 tasks: (1) she identifies the patient using the RFID-tagged patient chart and the RFID reader on top of the cart; (2) she verifies the corresponding medication for that patient using the touchscreen on top of the cart; (3) she disposes the RFID-tagged medication container into the RFID-reader bin on the side of the cart.