The RFID system is being used at the Mayo Clinic's high-volume gastroenterology and colorectal surgery outpatient endoscopy unit to reduce mislabeling, mostly due to either the wrong patient label or no label being affixed to specimen bottles, said Dr. Dawn Francis, the study's lead author.

Although RFID is already used in other settings, including libraries and passport tracking, Francis said the study marked the first application to track specimens in a healthcare setting.

Researchers reviewed the number of specimen-labeling errors for the first three months of 2007, prior to implementation of the RFID technology, and then during the first three months of 2008 -- six months after the initiation of RFID labeling.

The endoscopy unit sent 8,231 specimen bottles to the laboratory during the first three months of 2007, and 8,539 bottles during the first three months of 2008.

Compared with 765 errors in 2007, only 47 errors were noted in 2008.

The study was presented this week in Orlando, Fla., during the annual meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology.