Northwell Health is using technology to identify newborns by digital footprints, much as adults are identified by fingerprints, further increasing security .
The system has begun using CertaScan Technologies at Katz Women’s Hospital at North Shore University Hospital in what it called a “giant leap forward in the area of patient security and peace of mind for new parents.”
Erika Auerbach and her husband, Dr. Adam Auerbach, of Syosset, welcomed their newborn son, Spencer, into the world on October 7. Their son’s first footprint was created digitally without a traditional inkpad.
“Of course, we hope we’ll never have to make use of this technology for security purposes,” Dr. Auerbach said. “We learned that the baby’s footprints are stored in the cloud and can be downloaded at some future time.”
High-resolution newborn footprints are being used for precise identification, which could be helpful in identification in situations like abduction, lost babies or natural disasters.
Digital footprints and security photos, automatically linked to the mother’s fingerprints, can be stored efficiently in the newborn’s electronic medical record, according to Northwell.
“Much like fingerprints, footprints are a biometric and unique to each baby,” the system added. “They can be used for identification throughout a lifetime.”
The scanners, first introduced in 2014 and now in more than 100 hospitals around the country, were launched at Katz two weeks ago and already have been used more than 100 times.
The device is also available in Northern Westchester Hospital and Lenox Hill Hospital, both members of Northwell Health.
