"Smart cards" coming soon to a hospital near you

ChaosNurse · Jun 14, 2006

as with ANY technology, there are good things and bad. When it works the way it should, it will be a boon to medical professionals for both up to date meds and medical hx. When it is "preverted" it will create a major hassle for the owner of the card and the facility (being absent malice) gives the wrong person the "right" meds/treatment. And i "feel" for the nurse who gets "caught in the switches" when it goes wrong.

And as mentioned by someone else.... who is responcible for maintaining the records on the card? and how does one prevent it from being "hacked"?

BBFRN, BSN, PhD · Jun 15, 2006

I think they are supposed to be password protected, so if it gets lost or stolen it can't be used- but I don't know what it would take to hack into one. I guess it would be the same as hacking into a cell phone.

SharonH, RN · Jun 15, 2006

Sharon,
It doesn't say who's in charge of the info or the privacy thereof.
Here's a good article re: Smart Cards and Pt Privacy:
http://www.hct.com/pages/faqs.htm

Thanks for the info. That's very interesting.

P_RN, ADN, RN · Jul 12, 2006

I've thought about carrying one of those thumb drives with my info on it. It plugs to a USB port, but then it wouldn't be password or fingerprint protected.....

In London we bought phone cards that you could use on payphones and the cost/time would automatically be deducted. I always thought that was neat.

mysticalwaters1 · Jul 12, 2006

http://www.rnweb.com/rnweb/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=310551
Swiping a card, much as you would swipe a credit card, will give clinicians at participating facilities the patient's medical history, complete with conditions, allergies, meds, and lab results.
Cool, huh? Anybody using these yet?

WOW!!!!!!! Awesome! However I allways am afraid electronic data would get deleted on accident and gone forever! But still great!