Education key to success
The ultrasound technology behind his company’s fingerprint identify management system is identical to that used in medical imaging — such as the ultrasound procedure that expectant mothers undergo — explains John K. Schneider, PhD, founder of Ultra-Scan Corp., based in Buffalo, NY.
In the same way the ultrasound goes through skin and blood to capture the image of a fetus, it goes through any residue on the finger to produce a true fingerprint image, he says. By contrast, traditional fingerprint readers, which were optical, took a digital picture of the finger, "so they also took a picture of any dirt, grease, or grime on the finger, which gave them poor accuracy," Schneider notes. Even the nicotine residue on a smoker’s finger — though not visible to the naked eye — or the ink from a newspaper the person read that morning interferes with the accuracy of an optical reader, he says.
Ultrasound is effective with "all demographics — young, old, dirty, or clean" — whether the database is 2,000 employees, or 200,000 patients, Schneider says. It’s accurate even for Asian females, he notes, whose tendency to have very fine ridges on their fingers has been a problem for optical scanners.
As was the case at Catholic Health Systems, which recently implemented Ultra-Scan’s TouchLink fingerprint scanning software, "The key to successful deployment is education, education, education," he adds. "Most of the time [those who refuse] are just stressed out because they’re coming in for a medical procedure, or just don’t want to be bothered," Schneider says. "There are always one or two concerned with the privacy issue."
The great majority of people are sold on the process, when they realize that placing their fingers on the scanner can greatly reduce the probability of the hospital bringing up an incorrect medical record, he explains.
In its assessment of master patient index (MPI) files, which are used as the guiding pointer to clinical information in hospitals and clinics, Madison Information Technologies (www.madison-info.com) reported duplication error rates that reached as high as 20%.
Multifacility MPIs, usually referred to as the enterprise master patient index (EMPI) are even more problematic due to the difficulties faced in the integration of patient information from multiple systems.
Medical record errors have reached the 30% level for some EMPIs that were analyzed, the study found. "When you look at patient misidentification," Schneider says, "the problem is rampant in the health care industry. This error rate is driving the whole technology."
The ultrasound technology behind his companys fingerprint identify management system is identical to that used in medical imaging such as the ultrasound procedure that expectant mothers undergo explains the founder of Ultra-Scan Corp. in Buffalo, NY.
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