NFC (Near Field Comm) Enables Helmets to Store and Share Health Data

[Deleted member 35268]

Interesting development...

POC Sports' new cycle and ski helmets will include a built-in Near Field Communication tag and an app to create a record of important health information that users can access via their smartphones in the event of an accident or other health emergency.

https://www.rfidjournal.com/article...iconnector.com&dm_i=1JOI,6I43Z,B7NDX5,PTHLM,1

 

[mjr]

Won't embedding it invisibly in helmets mean that users are very likely to forget to update them or delete them on sale, leading to paramedics treating on the basis of incomplete or incorrect medical data? I think it would be better to put it in the usual id tags or cards.

 

[Slick]

Won't embedding it invisibly in helmets mean that users are very likely to forget to update them or delete them on sale, leading to paramedics treating on the basis of incomplete or incorrect medical data? I think it would be better to put it in the usual id tags or cards.

Would they be more likely to update an Id tag?

 

[Milkfloat]

The last thing a rescuer is going to do is get out their phone and install a propriety app to check for a NFC tag on the off chance a patient has gone to the effort to do the same and actually upload any information. Nonsense dreamed up by marketing idiots.

 

[mjr]

Would they be more likely to update an Id tag?

I think that seeing it repeatedly might motivate them to update it, or discard it if it's not theirs. (Despite my scorn for using "safety" equipment of basically unknown history, people do sell or share helmets.)

The last thing a rescuer is going to do is get out their phone and install a propriety app to check for a NFC tag on the off chance a patient has gone to the effort to do the same and actually upload any information. Nonsense dreamed up by marketing idiots.

I assumed, possibly incorrectly, that "NFC Medical ID Chip" is some standard and it was just the twICEme app which was proprietary to My ICE Info AB. The implied criticism that it's probably not a good substitute for medicalert tags/bracelets for life-critical details seems fair, though.

 

[lazybloke]

The last thing a rescuer is going to do is get out their phone and install a propriety app to check for a NFC tag on the off chance a patient has gone to the effort to do the same and actually upload any information. Nonsense dreamed up by marketing idiots.

I tried to write about my helmet, but my propriety app censored the details

 

[Mugshot]

Embed the chip in the person not the helmet, problem solved.

 

[Drago]

Or the user could wear a sports Vital ID bracelet for a fiver that won't fail no matter how hard the impact or flat the battery.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Or you can just tell your girlfriend that you're going skiing.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

The last thing a rescuer is going to do is get out their phone and install a propriety app to check for a NFC tag on the off chance a patient has gone to the effort to do the same and actually upload any information. Nonsense dreamed up by marketing idiots.

Yes, another solution desperately searching for a problem.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Surprised the helmet doesn't also broadcast the what three words location whilst it is at it.

 

[mjr]

Or the user could wear a sports Vital ID bracelet for a fiver that won't fail no matter how hard the impact or flat the battery.

NFC tags don't have batteries AIUI (they are passive, powered simply by being near a reader/writer) but you're nearly right about the impact. It wouldn't need to be a particularly hard impact as long as it was one that broke the antenna off and I suspect that's more likely for one embedded in a helmet than stuck on it.

 

[sheddy]

Built in accelerometer could be useful for new helmet design ?

 

[classic33]

Built in accelerometer could be useful for new helmet design ?

Something for measuring the deaccleration rate.

Problem with the built in chip include another piece of equipment to be carried in an ambulance, and to be at hand in A&E's. Problem with a card being carried in place off, they're reluctant to go through your pockets(fear of accusations at a later date being made). I carried a home made card, with all required details on it, but it nearly always stayed in the pocket, unless I was able to hand it over.

 

[Drago]

They'll look for pendant or bracelet. If it's really obvious they might (and the police will, but that may take time) look for an ICE type app on a smartphone. The medicos might loom through your wallet once you've got as far as Hossy because of the risk of complaints of sticky fingers, but if you need to impart critical life saving information that might well be too late. An example is Warfarin users who tend to carry a card in their wallet, but by the time they've got into your wallet you may be sat on a cloud, wearing wings and playing a harp.

If I'm doing anything sporty or on a search and rescue call I always wear the bracelet as I have quite an unpleasant nut allergy that makes certain medicines unsuitable for me.

The pendant and bracelet convention is universal across the western world. It has worked effectively since the 50's and is utterly foolproof once the user dons it. Why seek to change something so simple, so effective, so robust, that requires no additional equipment to be carried (and trained upon and maintained) by medics, and so unreliant of any forms of supplementary technology?