Is the chemotherapy circuit with RFID technology a good idea?

Introduction
Several risks have been identified in our chemotherapy circuit (CT) from dispensation to administration through delivery. It was therefore decided, in order to secure it, to deploy a traceability solution of the CT circuit in real time thanks to RFID technology.
It is necessary to evaluate, progressively, the effectiveness of the deployment of the solution in our ISO 9001 certified unit.

Objective
Evaluate the deployment of the new CT circuit with the quality indicators of the service.

Materials and methods
Performance and activity monitoring indicators are defined: the rate of deployment of the solution in the hospital, the rate of deliveries carried out with the solution, the rate of use of the solution (number of administrations started with the tool out of the total number of preparations dispensed to the services), the rate of complete traceability of the solution (number of administrations completed via the solution out of the number of preparations dispensed), and the rate of administrations started and completed with the solution. Finally, the various declarations of non-compliance (NC) following the implementation of the new circuit were recorded in the pharmacy and in the care services (CS). The analysis of the indicators was carried out over 4 months of use of the solution.

Results
The deployment, currently in oncology and hematology day hospital, represents 64.6% of preparations made by the unit. 96% of preparations dispensed are delivered using the solution.
Concerning the use: 65% of the preparations dispensed are administered using the solution. The rate of complete traceability with the solution represents 53% of the preparations dispensed, and 81% of the administrations started via the solution are completed with it.
The NC have made it possible to identify the most frequent problems: in the pharmacy, forgetting to stick an RFID chip on the preparation in the zone, estimated at 8 occurrences per month, or network problems, 1 day per month. The NC in the CS report encoding errors or hardware failures.

Discussion/Conclusion
The final goal will be to achieve 100% deployment and use of the solution. This will allow total traceability of the patient’s care course and thus secure his care. With the implementation, the rate of use is lower, which can be explained by the progressive training of the CS, the evolution of their habits, and the various implementation problems encountered. More time is needed to really evaluate the increase in usage. The rate of use at delivery by couriers is encouraging and shows good adherence. The rate of administrations totally traced via the solution shows that when it is used, it is used correctly. Finally, the NCs will allow us to complete the risk analyses of the circuit, with the impact of the new circuit and the identification of new risks and their frequency.

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