Identification of patients

Unmistakable entry of the menu choice of patients in a health clinic

Initial Situation

Patients in a health clinic have to decide in the evening what they want to have for lunch the next day. They mark their menu choice on cards whose content can be read electronically.

Conceptual Formulation

A less personnel-intensive possibility for the choosing of the menu should be found. The danger of a wrong entry is to be ruled out. The menu propositions for each patient should only consist of menus that they are allowed to eat from a medical perspective.

Solution proposed by alpharoll

alpharoll was convinced that RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) was the optimal solution to accomplish those objectives. Every patient receives a transponder in the form of a key chain. The patient can go to a terminal during a given time period and register by holding its key chain in front of a particularly designed terminal. Different menus appropriate for his medical condition will be suggested by means of a Touch PC. The patient then makes his choice. The exact assignment between each patient and his chosen menu will be available to the kitchen at the end of this process.

The reading device for the registration at the terminal was nowhere available in this form and was – also under consideration of aesthetic aspects – specifically created by alpharoll.