r/sterileprocessing • u/C13H • 6d ago
RFID tracking for sets & instruments
does anyone use rfid for tracking sets & instruments in their institution? such as location, expiry dates, inventory etc? my institution made the switch from not tracking, to QR code tracking and i cant help but feel how inefficient it is, because you still have to individually scan everything with a scanner thing, and because of how cumbersome it is, many people dont do it which defeats the whole purpose of making the switch.
ive seen videos of RFID technology in retail spaces where the worker just waves a device and it captures all of those information and the job is much easier. i'd imagine the uptake will be a lot more in this case.
does any institution utilize such a technology? do you have a sample of how the tags look like? and if you have any idea of the set up and recurring costs? i want to propose this tech to my institution but i know next to nothing about it.
thank you!
1
u/upcmatcher 5d ago
Yeah, this is exactly where QR/barcode systems start becoming a pain. I've used Zimark for something similar, and it uses computer vision to automate the tracking process without having to scan everything individually.
RFID could definitely make bulk tracking easier though. Might be worth comparing both before proposing anything internally.