Smart Pharmaceutical Tracking and Management System Developed by TCM RFiD to be Deployed at National Healthcare Group (NHG) Hospitals in Singapore

Logistics Insight Asia - Technology & Market Trends, 6/2/2008

The National Healthcare Group (NHG) of hospitals in Singapore has awarded a contract to local real-time systems solutions provider, TCM-RfiD, to help staff keep track of pharmaceuticals and ensure proper administration of drugs to patients.

The Intelligent Medicine Dispensing System (i-MDS), the first of its kind in Asia, will be operational by the second quarter of this year. The system runs on customized software developed by TCM RFiD, and will be deployed initially on more than 300 Motorola MC50 and MC70 enterprise digital assistants (EDA) at two NHG hospitals.
The i-MDS was designed to prevent inadvertent errors in the dispensation of drugs to patients, said TCM RFiD managing director, Michael Oh, “The system is set up to ensure that all the right procedures are being followed when it comes to the administering of drugs to patients: The right drug, right dosage to the right patient at the right time and by the right method – whether orally, intravenously or by injections.”

TCM RFiD’s medicine dispensing system uses Motorola’s MC50 and MC70 EDAs linked to backend electronic medical records via wireless technology and Wi-Fi networks. The i-MDS is equipped with security functions in that the transmitted data is fully encrypted and secured.

Hospital staff can use the EDAs to scan both RFID-enabled and bar-coded wristbands that are unique to each patient. They can double-check prescription dosages, pull up patient records, or enter new information such as changes in prescriptions or patients’ allergies which are transmitted in real-time to a central database accessible only to qualified healthcare staff.

TCM RFiD Pte Ltd, www.tcm-s.com
Motorola, www.motorola.com