A surgeon has invented a chip for patients designed to help prevent hospital errors.

SurgiChip is a one-inch-square RFID chip with embedded information that can be read by computers and hand-held devices so that hospital workers know that they have the right patient and the right procedure.

The information on the operation is placed in the computer. The patient sees it on a monitor and verifies that it’s correct. The data is then printed out on the chip and then re-read by the computer. Again, the patient verifies the data.

On the day of the procedure, the patient once again verifies the chip is correct, and it is then placed on the area to be operated on.