University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington tracks medications, kits using radio frequency identification technology, according to an article on the Healthcare IT News website.
The system allows a hospital to track meds from ordering through dispensing through administration at the bedside.
A vial of the drug Glycopyrrolate with a strength of 1MG/ML became the hospital's five-millionth RFID-tagged dose tracked by automated hospital pharmacy kit processing and medication tracking software.
Despite the progress RFID has made in the hospital setting, the debate over which technology will sustain over the long hall, RFID or bar code, is ongoing among industry experts.
Each technology has its advantages and disadvantages, the article said.
Barcodes, he said, are less expensive data carriers than RFID chips. And RFID chips have higher read-failure rates than bar codes.
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