Sterilizable Medical Product RFID Tracking for Reprocessing Cycles
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for documenting the sterile goods cycle of medical products are time-consuming, error-prone, and lack product-level traceability, especially for non-current-regulated instruments, leading to uncertainties about reprocessing cycles, service life, and maintenance needs.
Innovation Solution
A method involving an RFID chip with binary-coded data storage in medical products to document individual process steps of the work cycle, using a data chain that optimizes storage capacity by combining successful cycles into a single bit, ensuring traceability and efficient documentation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If written documenting or checks at the end of the reprocessing cycle are used, then documentation of the sterile goods cycle is achieved, but the process is time-consuming and highly error-prone
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual written documentation with an automated electronic detection system using sensors, data processing devices, and RFID chips to automatically capture and store reprocessing cycle data, eliminating handwriting and manual checks
Solution Approach 2:
The medical product itself with its integrated RFID chip serves as the data storage medium, automatically recording and maintaining its own reprocessing cycle information without requiring external manual documentation
2Reliability
If sensors are housed in larger devices, then monitoring of the work cycle is achieved, but there is no possibility of monitoring for instruments that are not current-regulated
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the monitoring function from the holding device and places it directly on the medical product itself through an integrated RFID chip, enabling monitoring of individual products regardless of whether they are current-regulated or not
Solution Approach 2:
The RFID chip acts as an intermediary between the medical product and the detection system, enabling data communication and monitoring for a wide variety of instruments without requiring direct integration into each device
3Quantity of substance
If conventional data storage is used in the medical product, then cycle information can be stored, but the storage capacity is insufficient for documenting the entire service life
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the data storage parameters by using RFID chips with significantly larger memory capacity compared to conventional storage solutions, enabling documentation of the entire product service life with detailed cycle information
Solution Approach 2:
The RFID chip serves multiple functions including data storage, wireless communication, and identification, replacing the need for complex dedicated storage systems while providing sufficient capacity for long-term documentation
Data Source
AI summary
A method includes steps for capturing and documenting a work cycle of a sterilizable medical product which is preferably held in a holding apparatus and which communicates, preferably wirelessly, with an external data-processing device, which is preferably disposed in the holding and/or storing apparatus. First, a process step or the performance of a process step of the work cycle is captured in accordance with an output signal of at least one sensor preferably disposed in the holding and/or storing apparatus. The output signal is processed further by the data-processing device to form cycle information. The cycle information is stored in a data chain/data sequence saved in a data memory of the medical product. The cycle information is stored by exactly one bit in the data chain.