Unveiling the potential of RFID-enabled intelligent patient management : results of a Delphi study

Information technology (IT) in general, and radio frequency identification (RFID) technology in particular, are considered as key enablers of healthcare sector transformation in terms of better quality of care, improved patient management, and increased healthcare efficiency and effectiveness. There is, however, a shortage of studies on the impact of RFID technology on patient management-related processes. This study intends to fill this knowledge gap in literature by unveiling the potential of RFID-enabled intelligent patient management. Twelve patient management-related processes are identified, followed by the assessment of the impact of RFID on the said processes by a panel of experts using a three-round Delphi study. The study identifies the top five processes that may benefit from RFID technology as follows: (1) accurate patient identification for medication safety; (2) patient identification to avoid wrong drug dosage; (3) accurate patient identification; (4) infant identification in hospitals to avoid mismatching; and (5) tracking of drug supplies and procedures performed on each patient. Furthermore, the evaluation of standard deviation variation shows a high convergence of consensus among the members of the panel with regard to nine of the twelve processes. Finally, the paper discusses future research directions.