MavCare

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Team Name

MavCare Team

Timeline

Fall 2023 – Spring 2024

Students

  • Ahnaf Ahmad
  • Joe Marquez
  • Kunj Patel
  • Michelle Sanchez 
  • Chelsea Takam

Abstract

Operating rooms are high-stakes environments that demand precision and efficiency. However, surgical teams often grapple with challenges in managing surgical instruments, leading to potential risks for patient safety and procedural delays. This problem is particularly significant during complex surgeries that require a diverse array of instruments. To address these challenges, this project endeavors to develop a sophisticated system for real-time tracking and management of surgical equipment. Leveraging Ultra High Frequency RFID tags discreetly attached to surgical instruments and a USB reader/writer, the system seamlessly integrates data with a desktop application. This integration provides users with critical information, ensuring the availability and tracking of surgical instruments.

Background

The healthcare industry, driven by technological advancements, continually improves patient care, safety, and operational efficiency. However, managing and tracking surgical instruments remains a critical challenge. Current manual tracking methods are error-prone, time-consuming, and risk patient safety and hospital operations. In the best case scenario, tools are accidently thrown away, but in the worst case scenario, they can be inadvertently left within a patient post-surgery. A smart tracking system is essential to enhance safety and optimize hospital operations, leading to significant cost savings through improved equipment management and streamlined surgical preparation

Project Requirements

  • MavCare tracking mechanism must be able to withstand the autoclave sterilization process.
  • MavCare tracking mechanism must be able to attach to any surgical instrument
  • MavCare software must allow for real-time tracking of surgical instruments
  • MavCare tracking mechanism must be able to function through metal material
  • MavCare electronics must not interfere with the normal functions of operating room elec- tronics via electromagnetic interference
  • MavCare software must allow for real-time tracking of surgical instrument
  • MavCare tracking mechanism must not severely alter the form factor of any surgical instrumet
  • MavCare shall provide the user with an interactive interface where they can manage, update, and query specific data regarding their surgical instruments

System Overview

We propose a comprehensive smart system designed to optimize the management and tracking of surgical equipment, enhancing operational efficiency and ensuring patient safety while complying with regulatory standards. Our system integrates RFID technology, with tags attached to surgical instruments and other key areas to monitor equipment availability and condition. This setup includes a network of RFID tags, readers, and communication portals that facilitate real-time data transmission and seamless equipment tracking. A centralized database, hosted on a secure server or cloud platform, will store equipment metadata, including location, status, and maintenance history, along with user authentication data, updating in real-time with each transaction or status change. This data infrastructure supports a user-friendly, web-based dashboard accessible from designated terminals catering to different user needs. The dashboard displays real-time information on equipment and asset locations, crucial for ensuring all tools used are accounted for and returned post-operation, thereby preventing any loss of surgical tools. This system is designed to integrate smoothly with existing hospital infrastructure to minimize additional equipment and clutter in operating rooms, with distinct layers for hardware, database management, and application interface to ensure coherent and concurrent information flow across all components.

Results

Some important trade-offs made are related to the size of our chosen tags. The Murata tags are incredibly small, 6.0 x 2.0 x 2.3 mm. As such, the Murata tags use passive RFID instead of active RFID, meaning that the Murata tags rely on the signal from the reader to act as its power supply. Due to budget constraints, however, the reader we chose, is not capable of sending a strong enough signal to the tags unless they make almost direct contact. This is a setback of our prototype, however we believe that with a more powerful reader/writer, our system can scale to a more effective range

Future Work

  1. A data analysis feature that gives the user the ability to analyze any data associated with each UHF RFID tag, such as usage patterns and maintenance history.
  2. A visual map interface that allows the user to track the location of each UHF RFID tag for better inventory management.

Project Files

References

  1. Murata. “RFID Software API.” Murata, 2021. Web. Retrieved 5 Nov. 2023. https://solution.murata.com/en-global/service/rfid-solution/service/software/.​
  2. Dipole. “How Does a UHF RFID System Work?” Dipole, 2023. Web. Retrieved 5 Nov. 2023. https://www.dipolerfid.com/rfid-blog/How-UHF-RFID-System-Works/.​
  3. University of California San Diego. (2016). Autoclave Overview. University of California San Diego. Retrieved from https://blink.ucsd.edu/safety/research-lab/biosafety/autoclave/index.html​
  4. International Organization for Standardization. “ISO/DIS 17665.” International Organization for Standardization, 2018. Web. Retrieved 14 Oct. 2023. https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/.

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