No Matter Where Patients Go, Chip Lets Hospital Know

It's the stuff of futuristic novels: Everyone is issued a bracelet that emits radio waves to track their location. Where they are and how long they've been there is displayed on a computer screen that's continuously monitored. This technology is no longer just fiction. It's being used now at hospitals across the country, including Middle Tennessee.
Becky Morris, a patient at Middle Tennessee Medical Center, says the bracelet gives her a sense of security. "I think it's great," said Morris, who recently underwent knee-replacement surgery. "I like everybody to know where I'm at." Advocates of the technology, called radio frequency identification, say it will lead to faster patient treatment and better health outcomes. The transmitters will also be attached to medical equipment, to help keep track of it. "This is a time-saving measure that allows us to quickly locate patients and equipment," said Emily Gardner, who works in MTMC's "mission control," a room with eight computer screens that show the location of every patient and 1,600 pieces of hospital equipment. "This gives us an overall view of what's going on in the hospital." Not everyone is a fan of the technology. Liz McIntyre, communications director for CASPIAN, a group that seeks to educate consumers about marketing strategies that invade their privacy, says the group is opposed to using the technology to track people. She says the concern is that one day it will be used to constantly monitor people as they go about their daily lives. To some extent, McIntrye says, that's already happening. She pointed to toll tags that allow people to quickly get through tollbooths on the interstate. Like it or not, some health experts predict it's only a matter of time before the transmitters become commonplace in hospitals. Locally, patients and equipment at Middle Tennessee Medical Center are being tracked via the technology. Hospital Corporation of America, which owns several hospitals in the Nashville area, is testing it to monitor equipment in some of its Florida and Texas facilities. And a Vanderbilt University Medical Center official says it's not a question of if, but when they will purchase the equipment to track patients, equipment, and perhaps employees.