Proposal: Medical Card with RFID

Khalee Clarke, Guelimanuel Grullon, Sakib Hossain, Sazeda Rahman

Department of English, The City College of New York

ENGL 21007: Writing for Engineering

Prof. von Uhl 

May 8, 2023

Summary

The proposed program is a cutting-edge medical card that aims to provide patients with a comprehensive and convenient way to manage their healthcare needs. The medical card will contain a patient’s complete medical history, including medications, allergies, and other relevant, miscellaneous health information. The card will be easily accessible to medical professionals, allowing them to access a patient’s medical history quickly, streamline medical processes, and improve patient care. This digital technology will be developed by a team of experienced professionals in the healthcare industry, including doctors, nurses, and healthcare technology experts, which have extensive experience in medical records management, software development, and patient care and are committed to creating an innovative and user-friendly solution to improve patient care. The 3.5 million-dollar budget for the program includes funding for software development, data storage, and ongoing maintenance and support. Resources will also be allocated for marketing and distribution, ensuring the medical card is widely available to patients and medical professionals. The medical card is an exciting advance in healthcare technology that has the potential to improve the healthcare system significantly. The team’s qualifications, experience, and comprehensive budget make this program a promising solution for managing medical records and enhancing patient care.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Proposed Program
   1. Physical Card
   2. Receiving Device
   3. App on your Mobile Device
3. Innovation Process
   1. How does RFID Work 
4. References
5. Evaluations
6. Task Schedule

1. Intro

Medical emergencies are often stressful and can be exacerbated by long waiting times at hospitals and clinics. It is a common scenario where patients have to fill out numerous forms and answer repetitive questions about their medical history, which can be frustrating and time-consuming. Such processes can lead to a delay in medical attention and may compromise the quality of care received. To address this problem, we developed – a medical card that stores patients’ medical information. This card aims to reduce the amount of paperwork and time spent during check-ins at medical facilities. By simply tapping the card on the reader and entering their fingerprint/ face identification, patients can quickly and easily share their medical history, previous diagnoses, and current medications with their doctors. The idea of using technology to improve medical services has gained significant attention in recent years. With the advent of digital technology, medical records can now be easily accessed, updated, and shared with healthcare professionals. This not only saves time but also ensures that patients receive more accurate and efficient care. The scope of this proposal is to implement the use of medical cards in hospitals and clinics. By introducing this technology, patients can reduce the time spent on filling out repetitive paperwork and allow doctors to quickly assess their medical history. This would lead to a reduction in waiting times, more efficient medical attention, and ultimately, a better healthcare experience for patients.

2. Proposed Program

2.1 Physical Card

There will be a unique ID number on the card, along with the individual’s photo, which can help to prevent fraud and ensure that the card belongs to the right person. This can be especially important in situations where medical treatments and procedures need to be administered quickly and accurately, such as in emergency rooms or during surgeries.

Secondly, the card can allow medical professionals to access important medical information about a patient quickly and easily. This can help to improve the quality of care and reduce the risk of medical errors. For example, the RFID chip incorporated in the card can have a unique private ID number, different to the one on the physical card, which contains a patient’s medical history, medication records, allergies, and other important information that can inform treatment decisions.

Thirdly, our medical cards can improve the efficiency of healthcare delivery. Medical professionals can scan the card to quickly access a patient’s medical information, which can save time and reduce administrative burdens. It can also reduce the need for patients to carry physical copies of their medical records, which can be inconvenient and easily lost or damaged.

2.2 Receiving device

The receiving device, also known as a Chip Card Reader, is the device that’ll receive the

unique private ID number from the RFID chip from the card, and will transcribe it into all of your medical information. It will be implemented in clinics and as well as emergency rooms. In clinics, it’ll reduce time and paper from both the medical workers and the user, and in emergency rooms, it could save someone’s life. If they’re deathly allergic to a certain kind of medication, yet the user is unconscious, they can use the card to pull up all of the information of the user, and notice the allergy that they have.

2.3 App on your Mobile Device

With our card, you’ll have access to a mobile app, where you can see all of your information. To set up all of your information, you’ll need to go in person to a medical clinic, but if you want to update any minor information, such as your medications or if you moved addresses, then you can do so from inside the app. No need to go to a medical clinic to do so.

There are security features placed in the app. By default, you’ll have to set up a password to be able to access your information in the app. In addition, you may also set up biometrics if your mobile device supports it, such as a fingerprint, face ID, or retina ID.

3. Innovation Process

The card would be the size of a credit card (3×2) so that it can be easily stored. The card would have an RFID chip which can be read wirelessly with a RFID receiving device at medical institutions. To protect the vital data within the cards, a combination of a passcode as well as face ID, or fingerprint will be required to access the information within the card. The included components of the MRS (medical record system) would have the card itself, fingerprint scanners as well as ir cameras for Face ID verification provided at supported establishments. 24/7 online support service so that anyone can get help or dispute unauthorized use of their card. 

Photo courtesy of: TT Electronics

RFID source: TT Network and Shopify

2.3 How does RFID Work 

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) contains 3 components: a scanning antenna, a RFID reader and an antenna. Your RFID tag is your transceiver. It contains data in a mini chip which is surrounded by a coil usually made of copper. An antenna sends short radio signals which power the rFID tag like a wireless charger. This reveals the data within and is transferred to the RFID reader where it is deciphered into usable data. This process would allow everyone to use a unique medical record number which would be stored in the cards and read using rFID. 

4. References

Leafwell. (2020). [Image of New York medical marijuana card]. Retrieved May 7, 2023, from https://b2628119.smushcdn.com/2628119/app/uploads/2020/04/Blog_How-to-Get-New-York-Med-Card.jpg?lossy=1&strip=1&webp=1

Nicks, P. (2012, September 26). The Waiting Room about Highland Hospital. [Photograph]. Independent Lens. PBS. https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/waiting-room.jpg

New York Times. (2009, July 30). Asking Patients to Sign Consent Forms [Photograph]. Retrieved May 7, 2023, from https://archive.nytimes.com/well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/30/asking-patients-to-sign-consent-forms/

Unknown. (n.d.). [Photograph of medical records]. Elder Justice Center of New York. Retrieved May 7, 2023, from https://www.elderjusticeny.org/blog/patient-right-to-access-medical-records

Pixabay. (2018). Credit Card – Credit Card Mastercard [PNG]. Retrieved May 7, 2023, from https://pixabay.com/vectors/credit-card-credit-card-mastercard-3643710/

New Medicare Card [Image]. (n.d.). Retrieved May 7, 2023, from https://www.emedny.org/images/New-Medicare-Card.pngPexels. (n.d.). [Photograph of hand holding a black card]. Retrieved May 7, 2023, from https://images.pexels.com/photos/8657364/pexels-photo-8657364.jpeg?auto=compress&cs=tinysrgb&w=1260&h=750&dpr=1.

How Do I Obtain My Medical Records? | MedicalMalpracticeHelp.com. (n.d.). Medical Malpractice Help. https://medicalmalpracticehelp.com/faqs/how-do-i-obtain-my-medical-records/

Vecteezy. (n.d.). [Hand-drawn arrow clipart image]. Retrieved May 7, 2023, from https://static.vecteezy.com/system/resources/previews/008/491/404/original/hand-drawn-arrow-clipart-free-png.png.

World Medical Card. (n.d.). [Medical ID card image]. Retrieved May 7, 2023, from https://worldmedicalcard.org/wp-content/uploads/elementor/thumbs/card-ad-q0uij5fq27mp368i6bcsc93o6wmixz4lip5i54g2d8.png.

Mobile devices: The “last mile” to enterprise biometrics. (2018, May 7). Veridium. https://veridiumid.com/mobile-devices-the-last-mile-to-enterprise-biometrics/

Kellogg Insight. (2019). [Graph illustration of healthcare cost credit]. Retrieved May 7, 2023, from https://insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/imager/clientcontent/7590/Healthcare_cost_credit_Runeer_48c5a68cf069a29bcf88e14b01cb3b03.webp.\

Secure Technology Alliance. (n.d.). Smart Cards and Patients [Diagram]. Retrieved from https://www.securetechalliance.org/resources/images/healthcare-faq/Smart-Cards-and-Patients-Fig1.png

Christino, M. A., Matson, A. P., Fischer, S. A., Reinert, S. E., Digiovanni, C. W., & Fadale, P. D. (2013, December). Paperwork versus patient care: A nationwide survey of residents’ perceptions of clinical documentation requirements and patient care. Journal of graduate medical education. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3886458/

RFID: The Technology Making Industries Smarter. (n.d.). Blog.ttelectronics.com; T. T. Electronics. https://blog.ttelectronics.com/rfid-technology

5. Appendix – Evaluations

1. How long does it take to update any new information on the card?

1. Roughly around a week for any new updates due to it being manually reviewed. We try to get any new information as quickly as possible so any needed medication is administered quickly.

2. What if I lose the card?

2. It’ll work the same way if you lose your credit card, but it’ll be a lot more secure. There’ll be an ID picture on the card to make sure that nobody else is using the card except for the card holder

3. How about old people? How will they adapt to the card?

3. There will be people that can help them to use the card. How to set it up and how to use it. Everyone needs to set up the card for the first time, so it’ll be a similar experience for both groups.

6. Appendix – Task Schedule

4/25: Assign roles

• Khalee Clarke – Introduction & Evaluations
• Guelimanuel Grullon – Proposed Program, Appendix & Evaluations
• Sakib Hossain – Innovation Process & Proposed Program
• Sazeda Rahman – Summary, Press Release, & Presentation Design

4/25-4/27: Research existing technologies which can be repurposed in ours.

4/28-4/30: Create rough drafts and ideas with each of our sections

5/1-5/4: Create final drafts for each of our sections

5/5-5/7: Create and finalize the presentation

5/8: Revize any errors that there may have been in the final drafts.

Question: How long does it take to update any new information on the card? answer: Roughly around a week for any new updates, we try to get any new information as quickly as possible so any needed medication is administered quickly.

Reflection

This assignment was one of the most challenging, yet most fun and rewarding assignments I’ve ever done. It wasn’t a walk in the park doing it all in two weeks, but it was really interesting writing and doing a presentation about these projects. We did a presentation about what we were passionate about, and an innovation that not many people thought about, but we brought it to the attention of our classmates to be able to think about it, and for them to think of more solutions related to this problem.

The audience for our presentation was mostly older or people that go to the hospital often who normally fill out many pages of paperwork over and over again. It motivated me to research and make people aware about this underlying issue because of the paperwork, which can be tedious and wastes a person’s number one resource: Time. It also saves time for the medical workers because they don’t need to check each and every paper whenever a new person comes to their clinic. Also, if they need to update any information, such as medications, they can do so easily in the app.

Medical appointments are also just a hassle to have, and also wastes a lot of time. We hope that with this proposal about the medical card with RFID, patients can have a more seamless and efficient experience when they visit the hospital or clinic. It will also help out in emergency situations. If a person comes rushing into the emergency room unconscious or has dementia where they don’t remember what medicines they are deathly allergic to, they can scan the medical card with RFID and it can show what kind of medicines they can’t receive because of allergic reactions.