摘要:
A surgical instrument tray RFID tag that includes a modular housing formed of two or more pieces of non-conductive, fluid impervious material. The two or more pieces are mated using an adhesive assisted seal to provide a sealed unitary structure that encases the RFID transponder circuit inside. Various fastening mechanisms may be used to fasten the tag to a surgical instrument tray such as adhesives, screws, bolts, rivets or other suitable mechanical fasteners. By hardening the outer case rather than the tag itself, various commercially available RFID transponder tags may be used with the various embodiments of the invention. The modular housing should be constructed of a protective material that will prevent ingress of moisture and dust, insulate from heat and cold but that will allow radio frequency waves to pass without significant attenuation. The tag may attached to surgical instruments during manufacture, or afterwards through a retrofitting process.
摘要:
A surgical instrument tray shipping tote identification system is provided. During transit to or from a medical facility, processing center, distribution center or other location, multiple surgical instruments trays are placed in an instrument tray shipping tote. Each instrument tray includes at least one RFID transponder tag storing identification information about that tray. The shipping tote has a bar coded shipping label affixed to one surface generated at the point of origin. When the tote arrives at the distribution center, it is placed on a conveyor system that includes a reading station having an RFID transceiver and a bar code reader. Information read from the RFID transponder tags and the bar code label is transmitted by a controller to an external database to check for any off-nominal status indicators. Once this check is performed, an indication is sent back to the controller and an appropriate indicator on the identification system is activated.
摘要:
A system and method for the preventing unintended surgical instruments and surgical disposables from remaining in the body cavity of a patient post surgically. Individual items are tagged with an RFID transponder tag preferably at the time of manufacture. Then, after an operation is complete, but prior to would closure, the body of the patient is scanned using an RFID reader device, such as, a hand held reader device to detect the presence of any latent RFID tags. As long as no tags are identified it is presumed that the body cavity is free of any unintended items. This avoids sponge counting and other overhead intensive methods of accounting for surgical items during a surgical procedure.
摘要:
A coiled RFID tag that includes an RFID transponder circuit that is formed over a generally cylindrically-shaped substrate core so that portions of the antenna of the transponder circuit circumscribe the substrate core. With this configuration, the tag may be applied to objects without regard to antenna orientation. The transponder circuit and substrate core are encased in a protective material that will prevent ingress of moisture and dust, insulate from heat and cold but will allow radio frequency waves to pass without significant attenuation. The tag may be attached various items by an overmolding process in the formation of a grip of other portions. Alternatively, the tag may be attached to objects by forming it into a flexible sleeve-like portion that is pulled over objects and maintained in position by the resilient properties of the sleeve.
摘要:
An RFID tag that is integrated into button-type, substantially cylindrically-shaped housing with a portion for attaching the tag to an object to be identified through radio frequency identification techniques.
摘要:
An apparatus may include a tool having a slot, the tool being composed of an electrical conductor and the slot being formed in an outer wall of the tool. The apparatus may include a transmitter having an antenna, where the antenna may be offset from the tool. The transmitter may be positioned within the slot, may be coupled to the tool by a conductive material, and may be covered with a protective material, where the tool may be adapted to operate as an electrical ground.
摘要:
Methods and systems for automatically programming an RFID tag using machine readable indicia. A dual mode device performs a bar code scan of a bar coded label. Information obtained from the bar code scan is stored. This information may be used to query a database indexed by the bar code information that contains detailed product information. The bar code information as well as the detailed information may be transmitted in an RF signal by the dual mode device to an RFID tag to be stored in a memory structure in the tag. The dual mode device may perform a read operation on the tag after the write operation to confirm that the data was successfully stored and provide an indication thereof. The indication may be a visual indication, a textual indication, an audible indication or combinations of these.
摘要:
A modular RFID tag that includes at least first and second tag portions that are mechanically connected to one another. A portion of the RFID transponder circuit resides in each portion of the tag. When the two tag portions are connected they form a substantially cylindrically-shaped structure. When the two tag portions are connected to one another, a conductive pin attached to one portion engages the other portiont to complete the circuit. Each portion may include a deformable layer on an inside surface that allows the modular tag to be attached to items of different dimensions and cross-sectional profiles.
摘要:
A radio frequency identification (RFID) workstation reader for RFID-enabled surgical instruments and surgical instrument trays and a method of using a RFID workstation reader to read RFID-enabled surgical instruments and surgical instrument trays is disclosed. The method, apparatus, and system enable individual instruments or a surgical instrument tray containing several surgical instruments to be quickly and efficiently inventoried and tracked. An instrument or instrument tray is placed on the workstation reader. An RF field generated by a plurality of antennae, causes RFID tags embedded in or attached to the instrument or instrument tray to emit a signal containing item specific identification information stored in the tags. The information is received by a control circuit and passed to a computer for data analysis. A status LED is illuminated on the workstation reader based on the results of the data analysis. The method, apparatus, and system can track, inspect, and verify inbound and outbound surgical instrument kits, and help to assess the surgical instruments' and trays' duty life cycle usage.
摘要:
A surgical instrument for assessing tissue characteristics such as tissue density and volume is disclosed. The surgical instrument is hand-held and includes transducers adapted for emitting and/or receiving acoustic signals. The surgical instrument utilizes pulse-echo to determine tissue characteristics. The surgical instrument may be utilized to determine such things as the size of a lesion and whether the lesion has been completely removed or filled with graft material.