MEWARE: Enhanced workflow automation, reliability and efficiency in medical establishments

This paper reports on an attempt to build MEWARE (medical establishment's enhanced workflow automation, reliability and efficiency), a new age medical information system. After discussing the inadequacies of existing and some of the currently proposed hospital information architectures, the paper suggests a location, identification, communication and simulation system that is able to overcome some of the shortfalls of existing systems and significantly improve the efficiency and throughput of the various units of the hospital setup. The system is based on RFID and wireless sensor network-based location and information management framework and the necessary technology platform that would allow hospital assets, personnel and patients to be tracked in real-time for the purpose of optimizing operations in all aspects of the daily activities of hospitals. The system is also intended to provide a continuous visual simulation and analysis platform to streamline operations, increase process efficiency and service levels. Existing systems and some of those proposed in the extant literature do not include all these capabilities.