Ubiquitous Healthcare: Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) in Hospitals

Abstract

Ubiquitous healthcare has become possible with rapid advances in information and communication technologies. Ubiquitous healthcare will bring about an increased accessibility to healthcare providers, more efficient tasks and processes, and a higher quality of healthcare services. Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a key technology of ubiquitous healthcare and enables a fully automated solution for information delivery, thus reducing the potential for human error. This chapter provides an overview of ubiquitous healthcare and RFID applications. In this chapter, the background of ubiquitous computing and RFID technologies, current RFID applications in hospitals, and the future trends and privacy implications of RFID in hospitals are discussed.