Biometrics: making it easier to tell if people are who they say they are.

• Author: Barbour, Tracy
• Position: TECHNOLOGY

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

At Providence Alaska Medical Center, fingerprint verification is a key step in the distribution and administration of medications. The hospital uses Pyxis Medstations to securely stock and dispense medications throughout its facility. To access a Medstation, authorized personnel must use their fingerprints or a self-selected user ID and password. In both cases, the system identifies the staff member and verifies who is accessing the Medstation.

Using the Pyxis Medstations gives Providence Alaska the benefit of digitally recording all activity conducted by staff members who access the system. This allows the center to track how medications are dispensed, returned, or even wasted by each person who uses a Medstation, according to Andre Neptune, RPh, director of pharmacy at Providence Alaska. The fingerprinting or biometric identification (BioID) system on the Pyxis machines is a vital part of ensuring that only authorized staff members have access to medications. It also affords Providence Alaska the ability to effectively audit the use of all medications, including highly regulated controlled substances.

"Passwords can be usurped or stolen if not safeguarded carefully," Neptune says. "Fingerprints, by contrast, are unique to each person and cannot be stolen or replicated and, as a result, the integrity of each staff member's Pyxis machine access is ensured. An additional benefit is that the log-in process using BioID is generally faster than using a password that must be typed in using a keyboard. During emergencies, rapid and reliable access to medications is critical to the care of our patients."

BIOMETRICS, A GROWING TREND

The use of biometric technology, like Providence Alaska's BioID system, is becoming increasingly common in corporate and public security systems in Alaska and elsewhere. Biometrics is the science and technology of measuring and analyzing biological data. In information technology, biometrics refers to technologies that measure and analyze human body characteristics, such as DNA, fingerprints, eye retinas and irises, facial patterns, ear lobe geometry and hand measurements for the purpose of verification or authentication. The technology also involves evaluating behavioral characteristics, such as how a person speaks, walks and even writes.

As an important distinction, biometric verification relates to assessing biological traits to identify people. Typical forms of identification are social security numbers, driver's licenses and fingerprints. Authentication takes verification to the next level. It's the process of determining whether someone is, indeed, who he or she claims to be.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Biometric technology uses physiological or behavioral...