A proposal of Using RFID Technology in Improving Scheduling and Route Planning for Pickup and Delivery of Medical Instruments at

a Hospital

Afrooz Moatari-Kazerouni1 and Ygal Bendavid2

1,2 ESG-UQAM, Montreal, Canada

6th International MCETECH ConferenceMay 12-15th, 2015

Montreal (Quebec) Canada

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Presentation outline

• IoT and RFID technology• Context of study

– Process– Issues

• Research objectives and approach• Impact of RFID technology

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IoT is…“A dynamic global network infrastructure with self-

configuring capabilities based on standard and interoperable communication protocols where physical and

virtual things have identities, physical attributes, virtual personalities, use intelligent interfaces, and are seamlessly

integrated into the information network.”

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IoT and RFID technologies

RFID technology as a data capture and sensing layer:

Allows tagged objects to communicate electronically, in real time, with its environment through the global infrastructure of wireless internet (communication layer) where automated transactions can be made.

Information from an RFID tagged object, turns it into a potential “smart” object, enabling access and monitoring them over an “Internet

of connected things”.

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Context of study

• Case study at a hospital in Montreal, Canada• Construction of a new building

– Dilapidated infrastructure – Space deficiencies

• Transfer of the most acute and critical cares to the new infrastructure – Central Sterilization Department (CSD)

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CSD Clinical Units

Soiled pickup and clean delivery process

Floor by FloorBuilding by

Building

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Issues with existing pickup and delivery processes

• Lack of visibility on pickup and delivery requirements

• No standard processes

• Manual recording of pickup and delivery information by CSD employees

• No specific route path for pickups and delivery

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Research Objectives

Assess performance of an RFID enabled traceability system to improve efficiency of scheduling and

route planning for pickup and delivery of items to clinical units

– Facilitating replenishment process based on real needs

– Estimating required number of CSD employees– Planning the most efficient traveling routes (with the

least distance)

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Research approach

• 70 clinical units• Studying “As-Is” situation• Data collection: shadowing CSD employees

– Locations – Times– Types of items– Loads

• Frequency of pickup and deliveries • Required number of employees to ensure services

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Impact of RFID technology • Real-time visibility on operations and improve decision

marking – Automatically trigger pickup and replenishment requests

Stopping at every unit vs. Request on mobile devicePre-planned schedules vs. Dynamic routing

– Computerize recording and archiving of information for the time, quantity, destination, responsible…

– Better estimation of employee’s workload • An adaptive service policy to satisfy requests

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RFID technology: how?

• Passive UHF RFID • RFID readers and antennas at:

– Soiled rooms– Dropping areas – CSD

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Conclusion• Hospital real time management:

– Automated access to accurate, timely and precise information on:

• replenishment needs at the point of use• locating carts and instruments• positioning of employees

• Envisioning design of an RFID solution• Modeling the new processes• Simulating impacts of the solution on replenishment

processes• Developing a prototype of the system to

– validate technical feasibility – performance improvement

IoT

Thank you!

UQAM, School of business315 Ste-Catherine est Montréal (Québec) Canada H2X 3X2

Afrooz Moatari-Kazerounimoatari_kazerouni.afrooz@courrier.uqam.ca