Traceability in healthcare: crossing boundaries

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Informatics
• Supply Chain Management
• Patient Safety

Background:

• Traceability in healthcare encompasses diverse aspects, with varying interpretations among stakeholders.
• Traditionally, traceability in logistics and retail focuses on tracking manufactured objects through production and distribution.
• In the food industry, traceability is crucial for public health, exemplified by tracking meat from animal to retail.

Purpose of the Study:

• To survey the multifaceted problem of traceability within the healthcare sector.
• To explore the specific needs and real-world applications of traceability in a large teaching hospital.
• To discuss the complexities and challenges associated with implementing comprehensive traceability in healthcare.

Main Methods:

• A comprehensive literature review on the topic of traceability.
• Analysis of existing research and industry practices related to healthcare traceability.
• Discussion grounded in the practical use cases and requirements identified within a major teaching hospital setting.

Main Results:

• Healthcare traceability intersects numerous needs, presenting significant complexity and challenges.
• Effective traceability requires robust identification management and entity tracking across supply chains, actors, patients, and processes.
• Challenges include economic, political, ethical, and technical hurdles, alongside new requirements like serialization and data persistence.

Conclusions:

• Traceability is vital for healthcare, particularly for drug safety (counterfeiting) and patient privacy.
• Resolving technical issues related to carrier reliability, robustness, and efficiency is essential.
• Enhanced traceability is a critical component for the future of healthcare, demanding attention from the medical informatics community.