RFID-ENABLED CAPABILITIES AND THEIR IMPACT ON HEALTHCARE PROCESS PERFORMANCE

In recent years, hospitals have begun to invest in RFID systems to control costs, reduce errors, and improve quality of care. Despite the transformative impact that RFID may have in healthcare settings, few studies have examined how and why this change may occur. The purpose of this study is to systematically understand how RFID can transform work practices and address cost, safety, and quality of care issues, most notably in inventory management. We leverage a sociomateriality framework to explore the causal linkages that connect the material properties of RFID with the behavioral changes that are observed through its use. By linking the material properties of RFID with innovations in existing practices, we provide a data-driven account of how and why RFID is useful in this setting. In doing so, we also contribute to recent work by IS scholars who argue for a reconfiguration of conventional assumptions regarding the role of technology in contemporary organizations. By adopting this perspective, we recast the issue of whether or not IT matters, and instead offer interesting and useful insight into how and why it does

Panel: Business process management education in academia: Its status, its challenges and its future

In recent years, hospitals have begun to invest in RFID systems to control costs, reduce errors, and improve quality of care. Despite the obvious benefits of RFID in healthcare settings, potential obstacles to effective deployment also exist. The purpose of this study is to systematically understand how hospitals can apply RFID to transform work practices and address cost, safety, and quality of care issues, most notably in inventory management. We leverage an interdisciplinary framework to explore adoption and use of RFID at multiple levels of analysis and adopt a multi-method approach to explore the research questions guiding this study. Our study is expected to contribute to a growing body of research related to the adoption and use of IT in healthcare settings and the enabling role of IT for innovating work practices and improving process performance

Exploring Transition in Healthcare Information Systems: A Process Perspective on RFID-Enabled Change

This research-in-progress article reports on an ongoing investigation that explores the transition from RFID-enabled transactional systems to RFID-enabled strategic systems in healthcare settings. By adopting a comparative case study approach and a process oriented perceptive, this research explores the underlying causal mechanisms that shape transition processes in this ever important industry. By developing deep insight into the factors that shape transition processes in healthcare, our research aims to generate key findings that are useful for both academic and practitioner audiences. By informing thinking in these areas, we hope to assist healthcare organizations in leveraging the strategic advantages offered by RFID technologies

M-health review: joining up healthcare in a wireless world

In recent years, there has been a huge increase in the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to deliver health and social care. This trend is bound to continue as providers (whether public or private) strive to deliver better care to more people under conditions of severe budgetary constraint

Big Data and the Internet of Things

Advances in sensing and computing capabilities are making it possible to embed increasing computing power in small devices. This has enabled the sensing devices not just to passively capture data at very high resolution but also to take sophisticated actions in response. Combined with advances in communication, this is resulting in an ecosystem of highly interconnected devices referred to as the Internet of Things - IoT. In conjunction, the advances in machine learning have allowed building models on this ever increasing amounts of data. Consequently, devices all the way from heavy assets such as aircraft engines to wearables such as health monitors can all now not only generate massive amounts of data but can draw back on aggregate analytics to "improve" their performance over time. Big data analytics has been identified as a key enabler for the IoT. In this chapter, we discuss various avenues of the IoT where big data analytics either is already making a significant impact or is on the cusp of doing so. We also discuss social implications and areas of concern.Comment: 33 pages. draft of upcoming book chapter in Japkowicz and Stefanowski (eds.) Big Data Analysis: New algorithms for a new society, Springer Series on Studies in Big Data, to appea

Goodbye, ALOHA!

©2016 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.The vision of the Internet of Things (IoT) to interconnect and Internet-connect everyday people, objects, and machines poses new challenges in the design of wireless communication networks. The design of medium access control (MAC) protocols has been traditionally an intense area of research due to their high impact on the overall performance of wireless communications. The majority of research activities in this field deal with different variations of protocols somehow based on ALOHA, either with or without listen before talk, i.e., carrier sensing multiple access. These protocols operate well under low traffic loads and low number of simultaneous devices. However, they suffer from congestion as the traffic load and the number of devices increase. For this reason, unless revisited, the MAC layer can become a bottleneck for the success of the IoT. In this paper, we provide an overview of the existing MAC solutions for the IoT, describing current limitations and envisioned challenges for the near future. Motivated by those, we identify a family of simple algorithms based on distributed queueing (DQ), which can operate for an infinite number of devices generating any traffic load and pattern. A description of the DQ mechanism is provided and most relevant existing studies of DQ applied in different scenarios are described in this paper. In addition, we provide a novel performance evaluation of DQ when applied for the IoT. Finally, a description of the very first demo of DQ for its use in the IoT is also included in this paper.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

An IS contribution to the UN Millennium Development Goals: Next generation vaccination management in the developing world

More than 9.5 million people die in the developing world unnecessarily each year due not to a lack of medicine but due to poor information management. It is proposed that the IS Discipline could contribute to resolving this and similar global challenges by making a greater contribution to high impact and high visibility global issues such as the UN's Millennium Development Goals. In this paper we illustrate the potential for the IS Discipline to take a leading role in high impact issues by presenting an innovative design for a mainstream IS solution to an illustrative global healthcare issue through appropriate applications of mobile technologies, cloud computing, social networking and geolocation services. © 2010 Wei Wang, Steve Elliot & Mary-Anne Williams

When Big Brother Privatizes: Commercial Surveillance, the Privacy Act of 1974, and the Future of RFID

RFID is a powerful new technology that has the potential to allow commercial retailers to undermine individual control over private information. Despite the potential of RFID to undermine personal control over such information, the federal government has not enacted a set of practicable standards to ensure that personal data does not become widely misused by commercial entities. Although some potential privacy abuses could be addressed by modifying RFID technology, this iBrief argues that it would be wise to amend the Privacy Act of 1974 so that corporations would have a statutory obligation to preserve individual anonymity and respect the privacy preferences of consumers

RFID in the supply chain: lessons from European early adopters

Purpose Radio frequency identification (RFID) is increasingly being presented as a technology with the potential to improve supply chain performance, but empirical evidence from early adopters is sparse. This paper aims to rectify this scarcity and contribute to a more informed discussion in and between academic and practitioner communities. Design/Methodology/Approach The paper is based on a conceptual model of factors influencing the success of adoption efforts. It then reports the results of a survey of 612 European supply chain managers, focusing on the 128 respondents who have begun RFID trials. Findings A significant influence on operational deployment is the presence of mandates from key customers requiring the technology’s use. Customer mandates also impact the anticipated benefits of a faster sales cycle and of enhanced systems integration, though the relationships are complex. By contrast, greater cost reduction benefits are anticipated in two industries where mandates are less common – industrial goods and logistics. Perceived organizational innovativeness positively impacts anticipated ROI from RFID. Companies adopting a ‘slap and ship’ approach are less likely to anticipate pricing benefits than those integrating RFID into enterprise systems Research Limitations/Implications The limitations of the paper include the limited sample size of early adopters. In addition, qualitative research is needed into RFID supply chain applications and into different approaches to IS integration of RFID, to inform future survey work. Practical Implications This paper informs supply chain managers and senior decision makers who are examining the potential of RFID technology. It offers guidance on what issues to look for when adopting this technology, approaches to take and the benefits that might be accrued. Originality/Valuer This paper offers a major contribution to understanding the current status of the adoption of RFID in European supply chains. This understanding is put in the context of the wider literatures on supply chain management and the adoption of information systems and te

Overview of building information modelling in healthcare projects

In this paper, we explore how BIM functionalities together with novel management concepts and methods have been utilized in thirteen hospital projects in the United States and the United Kingdom. Secondary data collection and analysis were used as the method. Initial findings indicate that the utilization of BIM enables a holistic view of project delivery and helps to integrate project parties into a collaborative process. The initiative to implement BIM must come from the top down to enable early involvement of all key stakeholders. It seems that it is rather resistance from people to adapt to the new way of working and thinking than immaturity of technology that hinders the utilization of BIM