System for tracking utilization and consumption of medical items in a medical facility and maintaining a chain of custody based thereon

摘要

An inventory system tracks the custody of medical items in a supply and consumption chain using RFID tags that encode medical item information specific to the medical items. Using data collected by RFID readers and other sensor devices disposed at several locations within a medical facility, the loca tion of the medical items is tracked and the custody of the items is assigned to various medical personnel based upon sensed movements of the medical items within the medical facility. The chain of custody begins in the shipping/receiving department and proceeds to the supply room, to the medical procedure room, and ultimately to the patient to which the medical item is dispensed or for which the medical item is otherwise consumed. Throughout the chain of custody, notifications are automatically generated and sent to the responsible medical facility personnel to provide prompts to take necessary actions with regard to stocking, dispensing or using the medical items.