Use of Near Field Communication (NFC) Tags in Dermatology

Clinical problem

Patients do not always carry details of their medical conditions with them, and hence, it may become difficult for the paramedical staff to provide adequate care to a patient presenting to the emergency room. We propose using near-field communication (NFC) tags to retrieve patient details in an emergency.

Solution

A near field communication tag (NFC tag) is a sticker or wristband with small microchips that can be read by in-range mobile devices. Information is stored in these microchips. An NFC tag can send data to other mobile phones with NFC capabilities. We provided NFC-based tags [Figure 1] encoded with adequate details such as drug cards for patients with severe cutaneous adverse drug reactions (SCAR), caution cards for patients with a history of angioedema, and alert cards for patients with hypocortisolism. The tags are available on various online shopping sites in India and are made of 888 bytes of user programmable read/write memory.[1] The tags contained details of the patient’s medical conditions, contact number, blood group, and management advice in case of an emergency. Patients carried the tags along with them either as a key chain or as a wrist band. An NFC-enabled mobile phone was the primary requisite for using these tags [Figure 2]. To know whether a mobile phone is NFC-enabled open the “Settings App” on your smartphone device and go to the search option, and type “NFC” or “Near Field Communication.” If you see the app showing results, your smartphone supports NFC technology. This made the retrieval of patient-related details easier and faster in case of an emergency. NFC tags can prove an essential aid in the current scenario with Corona Virus Disease (COVID). Security-related data should not be stored unencrypted on NFC tags. The NFC technology was developed to allow for quick and easy access to data on NFC so that when a person scans your unencrypted NFC tag, this person has access to the stored data during emergencies. If not, this would defeat the whole purpose of NFC tags. We used near NFC-based tags for dermatology medical emergency conditions and specific color-coded tags used for specific medical conditions. The amount of data stored on an NFC tag depends on the tag type, as tag memory capacity varies by tag. For example, a tag can store a phone number or Uniform Resource Locators (URLs). URLs are the most preferred form of data to be stored on an NFC tag as they take very less space and can contain a lot of information. It can be recommended for conditions like fixed drug eruption, drug hypersensitivity syndrome, angioedema, acute generalized exanthematous pustulosis, Steven-Johnson Syndrome (SJS), and Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis (TEN). The patients used it as fun tags wearing around the wrist or neck, making it easier to retrieve patient details.

Figure 1.

Near Field Communication (NFC) tags

Figure 2.

Patient details retrieved from Near Field Communication (NFC) tag using Near Field Communication enabled mobile

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.