Map of risks for the implementation of radio-frequency identification: application of ancillaries in the University Hospital Jean Verdier.

Ancillaries are surgical instruments, such as orthopedical instruments set for reconstruction of knee (a mounting arm...) used to implant or extract prosthesis. Their management involves the departments of sterilization and surgery as well as the suppliers. Such a long circuit exposes the instruments to potential risk hazards like a lack of traceability as the suspicion of Creutzfeldt-Jakob. In order to reduce the risk of errors we will propose the implementation of radio-frequency identification (RFID) to trace the ancillaries during each step of the supply chain. The objective of our study is to analyze and to map the risks associated with RFID implementation. A preliminary analysis of risks (APR) is conducted to map out the hazards for the implementation of RFID. The APR identifies 162 scenarios with a maximum risk connected to environment and technology. To reduce the risks identified, 22 courses of action are proposed, such as audits, training, and internal controls. For each action, a procedure has been designed and evaluated. This preliminary analysis of risks allows targeting the potential dangers for the RFID implementation applied to ancillaries and reduces them significantly.