Xerafy has been named the recipient of the 2017 Global Frost & Sullivan Award for New Product Innovation for RFID surgical instrument tracking systems. 

Xerafy's surgical instrument tracking solution supports high-accuracy tracking and automatic processing of surgical instruments, with hospitals typically achieving a return on investment (ROI) within a year of deployment. Xerafy's patented miniature RFID tags are specially designed and validated with the help of healthcare professionals to withstand sterilization processes. RFID tags are attached securely with ISO 10993 compliant adhesive and can withstand repeated autoclave temperatures and chemicals throughout the lifecycle of the surgical instrument. Xerafy's surgical instrument tracking system optimizes hospital workflow, provides automated traceability in real time and improves patient safety. The solution enables up to 97 percent of all surgical instruments to be tagged, enabling average cost savings of more than $3 million from increased staff efficiency and optimized operating room (OR) time.

For example, the cost of manual instrument tracking was a primary driver for  Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin , recognized as Germany's best hospital. 

The time and cost of tracking 300,000 surgical instruments was growing at an unsustainable rate. In order to properly service and document instrument lifecycles, the hospital needed a technology that could bypass the identification and reading limitation inherent in contaminated instruments, while ensuring seamless tracking operations in the Central Sterile Supply department both before and during sterilization.

In 2016, the hospital began deploying Xerafy's autoclavable RFID tags to track instruments. Any doubts staff had about the ability of the tags to function through multiple sterilizations were quickly put to rest through rigorous pre-deployment testing.

"We were able to test all the treatment processes that were used throughout the usual life cycle in test scenarios. There were no problems," said Sadmir Oasmancevic, Head of CSSD.

The tags' performance was established over 1,000 sterilization cycles, including exposure to chemicals, mechanical stress during transport, and material expansion during high temperatures. Similar testing on the biocompatible glue used to adhere the tags to the instruments showed no risk of dislodgement while withstanding contact with blood-, saline- and iodine-containing substances.

Most important, the usability of the retrofitted instruments was not impaired, and suppliers were able to confirm the instruments still met existing certifications. 

Click here for a summary of summary of four RFID surgical tool deployments  documented by healthcare providers over the past several years.