Radio frequency identification in hospitals could pose risks

By Michael Kahn

LONDON (Reuters) - Radio frequency identification chips (RFID) used to track and trace products could cause critical care medical devices such as pacemakers and ventilators to fail, Dutch researchers said on Tuesday.

Electromagnetic interference from the chips caused 22 problems that could endanger patients, ranging from completely stopping syringe pumps to switching off ventilators, said Erik Jan van Lieshout, a critical care physician at the Academic Medical Centre at the University of Amsterdam.

"We wanted to investigate the safety of RFID in healthcare because it hasn't been tested," Van Lieshout, who co-led the study, told Reuters. "This is the first study ever done on RFID interference within the hospital."

Retailers have embraced RFID and the technology is now moving into healthcare, with spending in the United States the researchers estimate will grow to $2 billion annually in the next ten years from a current $90 million.

Potential applications include marking drug blister packs to prevent counterfeiting, monitoring blood products with temperature-sensitive blood products and tracking and tracing important medical equipment and devices, Van Lieshout said.

The potential for harmful electromagnetic interference from electronic anti-theft surveillance systems on some pacemakers and defibrillators is also known but the effect on other critical care devices is not certain, the researchers said.

"Implementation of RFID in the intensive care unit and other similar health care environments should require on-site electromagnetic interference tests in addition to updated international standards," Van Lieshout and colleagues wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The Dutch team tested electromagnetic interference of the two most common RFID systems in a one-bed patient room in an intensive care unit with no patients.