Getting the right blood transfusion product to the right patient should be a standard procedure in hospitals. But you might be surprised to know how often a mistake occurs. Here’s Marc Oertle, head of the medical informatics department at Thun hospital.

OERTLE: “There are figures assuming that one in every 100 blood transfusions goes wrong, but experts assume that it is much more frequent. In our hospital, we have reports from the last ten, 20 years, and we assume that once every year a real, big problem in transfusion happens.”

The hospital in Thun is testing a project aimed at reducing medical errors across the entire transfusion chain. Patients wear wristbands with electronic chips, the transfusions have barcode identification and during the taking of blood samples, the collection of blood from the vein, and during the transfusion itself, both identities are cross-checked to make sure the patient gets the right product. Marc Oertle again:

OERTLE: “We have a complete electronic chain concerning the identification of the blood sample, the patient and the transfusion product – and of course, also, the personnel involved.”

The system is functioning in two wards. By the summer, the plan is to expand it to the entire hospital. Experts say we are moving towards a world where everything from cars and toys to key chains and clothes are connected together by wireless networks. Professor Elgar Fleisch of the Federal Institute of Technology says it is the next logical step in the development of the internet.

FLEISCH: “The internet today purely links computers and ends typically at computer screens, so it doesn’t jump out into the real world. Everything you feed into the internet has to be fed by people, human beings. In the Internet of Things we not only connect computers but every possible item of daily living, so the internet jumps out of the computer screen into the real world.”

Washing machines that decide for themselves the best time to run or lost keys that transmit their whereabouts are just two of the applications which will affect every industry from production to retail, health care to financial services. In turn there will be new issues of security, privacy and safety.