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Attendees at this month's TEPR Conference in Baltimore had better think twice before ducking out of a seminar early to get in the front of the line for a cab. RFID technology will be tracking their every move as part of the largest demonstration of wireless locating and tracking technology ever in health care.

The first-of-its-kind demonstration will take place during the Toward Electronic Patient Records Conference and Exhibit on May 20-24. More than 500 attendees are expected to volunteer to wear name badges embedded with RFID tags that will track their location by set "zones" throughout the conference. The zones will mimic a busy hospital, with attendees tracked in the "Emergency Department," "Perioperative Suite," "Lab" or "Hospital Room."

"Managing patient flow is one of the hot topics for any hospital," says C. Peter Waegemann, CEO of the Boston-based Medical Records Institute, which sponsors the show. "Being able to locate staff in emergencies can save lives ... and being able to know at any time where a medical device can be found makes all the difference."

Patient Care Technology Systems and Parco Wireless are providing the infrastructure for the tracking system used at the convention.