ajfortin.com

We keep seeing examples of the emergence of medical “everyware” being announced in the press (see my earlier post). In the first case, it’s dementia patients in Luxembourg being tagged. From E-Health Europe we read:

Patients suffering from dementia in a Luxembourg hospital are now being tagged with RFID solutions from AeroScout to ensure they remain safe within hospital grounds and are in close range of nurses and caregivers.

The hospital is using AeroScout’s T2 tags, which the company says has more than four years of battery life. These are worn by patients or attached to hospital equipment, and emit a signal which is detected and accurately located by the hospital’s Cisco Unified Wireless Network . . .

The AeroScout system can also trigger automated alerts based on movement and location, immediately sending an email, page or voice message to staff when a patient leaves a designated area. AeroScout Exciters provide precision detection at doorways, exits and other choke points.

In another example, a Tennessee company announced tracking technology for its customers use in emergency rooms, operating rooms and ICUs. From Health Care IT News we read:

Aionex Inc. announced today it would use RFID readers to improve safety in its Patient Response Platform, software that communicates and documents patient information in hospitals . . .

Aionex’s platform uses infrared technology for staff but adopted RFID for patient wristbands to improve wearability and the overall usability of the platform. The RFID patient wristbands are also more cost-effective when compared with using infrared.

As we’ve written about before, these well-intentioned technologies raise a number of questions that we never quite see come up in the press releases. But I guess that depends whether you are the surveillant or the one surveilled.