RFID-Enabled Surgery ...

Testimony by Bruce Waxman for the January 11, 2005 NCVHS Subcommittee on Privacy and Confidentiality Hearings

... "SURGICHIP is an FDA approved, patent pending system using RFID technology to help prevent wrong-site, wrong-patient, and wrong-procedure surgery; it is a new use of preexisting technology. A computer chip encoded with the pertinent data is affixed to the skin with biocompatible adhesive and is removed prior to the incision; the chip is not implanted inside the body. SURGICHIP is used in addition to the other usual safeguards against wrong-site surgery, including the JCAHO Universal Protocol (yes or the surgeon's initials / signature are written on the incision site with indelible marker and a time out is taken to review the operative consent and verify the patient's identity). With SURGICHIP in place it is less likely that the surgical team will forget to check the operative consent or the patient's identifying wristband. The possibility that the wrong chart will be used and the incorrect procedure therefore performed is minimized since the chip, which has been verified by the patient while awake, does not physically leave the patient until the surgical prep begins. " ...