Seattle Fire Department Field Tests RFID Patient Tracking Technology

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•Case Study: Seattle Fire Department Field Tests RFID Patient Tracking Technology

There's a fire in a high-rise dormitory on the University of Washington campus. Hundreds of students are injured, some critically. Patients are being triaged on the street and transported to the nearest hospital.

Today's news? Fortunately, no.

This is one of many live-fire drills the Seattle Fire Department (SFD) has performed to prepare for an MCI—mass casualty incident. MCIs run the gamut from fires in large, occupied buildings to weapons of mass destruction, but all share one thing in common: large numbers of patients being treated and transported in a chaotic environment.

The difference with this drill is that Seattle Fire was testing the use of technology to help first responders (firefighters, medics) triage, treat and transport patients from the scene to area hospitals. The system uses Exodus MCI software from Asentrix Systems running on Intermec Technologies' 760 mobile computers with IP3 radio frequency identification (RFID) readers and Intermec RFID tags. The 760 computers communicate instantly to the command and trauma centers via a wireless local area network (802.11) or wireless wide area network (CDMA).

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•Case Study: Seattle Fire Department Field Tests RFID Patient Tracking Technology