NFC And Healthcare: Improving The Healthcare Experience For All

Near-Field Communication (NFC) may not be as well-known to non-tech professionals as the Internet-of-Things or machine learning – yet it’s one of the most promising technologies developed over the last two decades.

According to market statistics, the future of NFC is bright as the value of the technology is estimated to reach £29 billion by 2025. Considering the increasing adoption of NFC across non-tech industries, this technology has the potential to change the way we approach our daily lives.

In this post, we will examine the applications of NFC in healthcare and find out how it can maybe help the healthcare system manage and recover after the global pandemic.

Improvement: NFC and Healthcare

There aren’t many fields where the potential of NFC shines as prominently as it does in healthcare. Due to of the large number of medical procedures, the necessity of critical care and the various healthcare processes handled in a hospital at any moment, the need for the convenience, security and automation offered by NFC are clear benefits NFC brings to the challenges of the healthcare system.

What are some of the areas of healthcare that benefit from NFC?

Security

Hospitals are vulnerable to security threats – according to statistics, healthcare institutions are often targeted for supply and drug theft as well as more violent crimes.  NFC tags are particularly useful in hospital settings to monitor supplies and resources. Staff and patient access control, movement trackers and equipment tracking systems are other powerful ways to strengthen the security of healthcare institutions.

Check Out The NFC Forum Product Showcase For More Healthcare Solutions

Improved Home Care

Now that the entire world is fighting the COVID pandemic, doctors advise patients to stay at home and avoid going to the emergency room to protect themselves from virus exposure.

As a result, some people with chronic illnesses have a difficult time getting the quality of care and medical assistance they need to manage their condition. For example, NFC technology can help caregivers and caretakers connect with one another using wireless data-tracking bands that monitor the patient’s vitals and sends all the relevant data to the physician. Home healthcare is an area where NFC can play an important enabling role for a number of healthcare solutions and products.

Medication Safety And Delivery

To make sure patients aren’t harmed by ingesting an expired drug and reduce damage from the potential of pharma fraud (selling counterfeit medications), a growing number of healthcare institutions are using NFC technology to get real-time data on a medication’s expiration date, authenticity, concise patient instructions, correct dosage information, possible side effects and recommended drug storage conditions.

Smart Watches, Tags And Apps

The positive potential of NFC for patient monitoring, cutting hospital operating costs and theft prevention are undeniable. Companies are already adopting NFC to help people stay safer and healthier in and outside the hospital. Readily available NFC-enabled devices being used already for health care or fitness applications both at home and in the hospital include the Apple Watch, NFC smart pharma tags and even smartphones among other devices.  Android and Apple NFC developers are particularly active in the health care area. More and more healthcare institutions and startups are considering reaching out and engaging with, say, an android developer to harness the full potential of NFC technology in healthcare. Of course, the spectrum of such specialists is very wide ranging from qualifications to android developer cost and more.

Learn More About NFC.  Watch The Video

Conclusion

NFC technology is rapidly being adopted for healthcare applications.  The great user experience and versatility of NFC means it can be an effective technology in both hospital and home care settings.  It’s potential with developers is another growing area due to the fact that it is an easy to implement, low-commitment way to innovate new health care solutions.

The views expressed in this blog are the author’s and not necessarily those of the NFC Forum.

Anastasia Stefanuk is PR Manager at Mobilunity