Using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) in Nursing Practice: A Review of Literature

In recent years, using Radiofrequency identification (RFID) technology in healthcare has become one of the main applications. The aim of this study is to review the literature of RFID usage in nursing practice. This is a narrative review of the literature which was performed with an electronic search for published papers in English and Persian language in PubMed, EBSCO, CINAHL, Web of Science, Emerald, SID, Magiran, and Irandoc databases in 2015. English and Persian keywords of "nursing", "nursing practice", "RFID", "healthcare" with Boolean functions were used to search the papers. Out of 68 papers, 14 ones were included in the study for review without any time restriction. RFID can be used for patient and staff identification and equipment detection. It can also be used in patient care including: control of serum therapy and blood transfusion, rapid access to patient information, control of vital sign, drug safety, and control of human errors in medication. Also, control of patient status in bed is another application of RFID. The use of RFID technology in nursing has a vast field of application,and it is associated with advantages and limitations. Use of this technology leads to the reductionof costs, save of time, and access to more information in short time. On the other hand, high implementation costs, reduction in the security and privacy of patients and staff, the adoption of technology by staff, and time-consumingness of implementation are the restriction of the RFID in hospitals.