In a New Zealand first, Waikato Hospital has moved out of the dark ages and into the digital with an electromagnetic tracking device.

The unassuming cube of metal with a moving conveyor belt looks like an airport security scanner, but its ability to read and digitally validate the tags of thousands of surgical implants in just seconds has improved both efficiency and safety at the hospital.

Theatre Sterile Services manager Aileen Derby with the new scanner at Waikato Hospital's SSU. Photo: Waikato DHB

The efficiency gains alone have enabled staff to get through more of their work and reduced the time stress to do it.

The tunnel works by reading a radio-frequency identification tag – like a very smart barcode – which provides a whole lot of information about the item.

Project Manager Renae Smart says Waikato staff love the new system.

'It is very simple software, but it gives a huge amount of time back to the team. Something that took hours now literally takes a few seconds,” she says.

'The conveyor belt moves a tub full of products through the tunnel, which then reads the tag, tells us what the product is, its serial number, expiry date and if it is what we ordered.”

the system leaves less room for error and has endless possibilities moving forward around process automation and accurate data capture.

Renae says this is not new technology – it is currently being used globally in many different ways – but the way it is being used in New Zealand's health sector is 'new and evolving”.

'In the Netherlands this technology is used to track diamonds,” elaborates Renae. 'In the States casinos use this technology to keep track of chips and in Australia they are using the RFID Tags in maternity wards to make sure babies are correctly matched with their mother.

'The ability to apply this technology for tracking accuracy and automating functions is wide-spread and pretty amazing.”