Biometrics deployments in healthcare have traditionally been extremely difficult and problematic. Most conventional biometrics systems fail to operate reliably in the harsh environments and situations found in most hospitals today. Frequent hand washing, heavy use of chemicals and cleaners, and a wide range of demographic issues make biometrics enrollment and authentication quite difficult and challenging.
Meanwhile, secure user access to medical equipment and supplies is an ever increasing priority for hospitals. Maintaining adequate control and an effective audit trail is both a cost saving and compliance issue. Biometrics authentication and identification is an ideal solution to both problems. But biometrics is only viable if the technology and solution can be made to work reliably for every user, every time.
CareFusion (formally a division of Cardinal Health) is the industry leader in providing secure medical drug dispensing equipment. As an experienced user and client of biometrics technology, CareFusion understood these challenges. After an extensive industry wide evaluation of biometrics technology and devices, CareFusion selected Lumidigm’s multispectral imaging fingerprint sensors and software for integration into their latest generation of dispensing cabinets.
Results to date have been outstanding. The performance of multispectral imaging in their MedStation 4000 has clearly demonstrated a dramatic decrease in failure rates and other performance problems experienced with conventional devices. With multispectral imaging, the system’s failure to enroll and failure to acquire has been dropped to virtually zero. Where in the past the solution was only effective about 80% of the time for 4 out of 5 users, the new MedStation 4000 performance is near perfect.
CareFusion’s application of biometrics is yet another excellent example of how multispectral imaging’s unique ability to “see” beneath the surface layer of skin can have a dramatic impact on user performance and real-world experience. Lumidigm’s multispectral imaging is also the only technology on the market today that can extract a fingerprint image from a gloved hand.
Bottom line, the new MedStation 4000 with Lumidigm biometric technology represents a major advance in secure biometrics access in a hospital dispensing system. Lumdigm’s superior single touch performance in these extreme environments and dry skin conditions sets a new standard for excellence in biometrics healthcare applications.
Pyxis BioID Fingerprint Identification System (102.0 KiB)
An overview of biometrics applications in healthcare, a brief discussion of how biometrics work, an overview of technical challenges for biometrics in healthcare settings, and a thorough discussion of the second generation biometric solution for CareFusion Pyxis® BioID.
