RI WitnessTM ART Management System

Electronic witnessing is now an established and proven methodology that has led it to become the global gold standard for mismatch avoidance.

Since 2007, at the forefront of the industry movement towards increased visibility and accountability, we designed, alongside embryologists, a system that gives you increased confidence in your everyday practises. RI Witness is now the world’s most established and trusted ART electronic witnessing system, installed in over 40 countries across six continents.

In addition to the core undertaking of mismatch avoidance, RI Witness offers benefits in quality control, traceability, workflow efficiency and reduced administration. Having RI Witness in your clinic builds on the trust your patients have in you. It helps you and your team have confidence that everything is as secure and efficient as possible

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Key Product Information

Brochures

Specifications

Order Codes

What is RI Witness?

RI Witness uses Radio Frequency Identification(RFID) to detect and monitor all activity in the IVF Laboratory. The system helps mitigate the risk of human error every time samples are moved from one dish or tube to another, and safeguards every step of the IVF cycle.

Throughout the lab, RI Witness readers are situated wherever work is undertaken, critically where samples are handled. Embryology heated or unheated plates with in-built RFID readers can be integrated into  a worktop. They are active all day, every day, so a check cannot be overlooked.

“Since I started using RI Witness in my laboratory the embryologists sleep better and so do the patients.”

Jean–Claude Jacquet,
Medical Biologist in Reproduction,
Oriade PMA Grenoble, Rhône Alpes, France

An RI Witness work area has a tablet computer connected to the server, integrated with your clinic’s patient database*.  Thanks to self-adhesive RFID tags attached to all the laboratory plasticware, it is possible to ensure protocols are followed and only compatible samples are worked on at any one time. The system is automatic, so it does not require additional steps by embryologists to identify samples, which are necessary with human double witnessing or barcode witnessing systems. By automatically tracking, monitoring and recording across all your work areas, RI Witness frees up your time, energy and expertise. This secured process fills everyone with total confidence2.
*Subject to compatibility, some programming may be required

Why Do I Need RI Witness? – What if you had a mix-up?

“RI Witness has improved efficiency by streamlining our working practice – laboratory procedures are performed at the optimum time with a real-time witness.  The ease of operation is great and the system has proved to be a versatile audit tool.”

Sophie Jewitt, Senior Clinical Embryologist
Gateshead Fertility Unit, England

Many embryologists tell us this concerns them, and from time to time, the media reports an error which has wide-reaching effects; not only on the family but also the embryologists, the lab and the wider community’s perception of IVF practices. Primarily, RI Witness was designed to mitigate this risk. Through constant monitoring it reduces the chance of human error associated with repetitive tasks and misperception1,3. Compared to other witnessing protocols it involves less disruption and accelerates the speed of witnessing which can reduce the time an embryo is out of the incubator3.

In response to ongoing customer feedback, RI Witness has been developed to include many time-saving features to make laboratory work easier. RI Witness does the work of many people, potentially freeing up staff members to carry out more procedures, increasing overall laboratory efficiency. It can also be used as a quality management tool ensuring consistent adoption of laboratory protocols and monitoring staff performance and simplifying audits. Using RI Witness, provides your clinic with a competitive advantage while offering a secure, patient-orientated service.

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What RI Witness is designed to do

Electronic Witnessing was primarily designed for risk reduction

Continual automatic witnessing

  • Locks patient identity to every gamete, oocyte, embryo, biopsy and cryo sample for continuous monitoring
  • Accelerates ID witnessing throughout the patient cycle
  • Active all day, every day: No process goes unchecked

Provable error prevention rates

Since introducing RI Witness in 2011, The Brussels University Hospital has benefitted from a vast amount of data captured on lab performance.
Statistics show that RI Witness since installation has warned the lab staff on hundreds of instances, where samples from the previous cycle were left in the work area – and in 2019, when the lab ran 7,500 cycles, seven potential mismatches were avoided thanks to RI Witness.9

How Does It Work?

Not just for security

RI Witness offers additional values including workflow management for efficiency, time saving and simpler audits

Reduce administration

  • Supports audit activity and changes to documentation
  • Records and organizes consumables cross-referencing patient cycles and material batches for traceability

Time saving per procedure without a double witness

  • Potentially reduces each embryo’s time outside the incubator by decreasing the time spent waiting for a manual witness4
  • Supports and guides staff through clinic SOPs, and accelerates staff training

Keep everyone informed

  • Easily accessible data displayed in the lab show every cycle’s progress at a glance
  • Uninterrupted workflow and communication for the team

Manage and analyze your workflow

  • Oversees lab activity in real time
  • Allows comparison of lab efficiencies and performance data from multiple labs
  • Assigns accountability
  • Identifies your training requirements
  • Standardizes your procedures across workstations or multiple labs
  • Reports workflow bottlenecks so you can increase efficiency

Collects patient cycle information

  • Paperless data capture via a tablet touchscreen saves time4
  • Direct data input minimises transcription errors by connecting to your patient database

Product Specifications

Work Areas One work area required for each critical working location. Microsoft Windows based PC or Tablet needed for each work area. Readers available heated or unheated. RFID reader frequency: 13.56MHz
Barcode Compatibility (Traceability) Compatible with GS1 barcodes (GS1-128)
Barcode Scanner (Traceability) Compatible with USB (Keyboard wedge) fixed and hand held scanners
Camera Compatibility (Imaging) Research Instruments’ DC1 & DC2, Analogue cameras
RI Witness™ Manager (Client Software) PC System Requirements Operating Systems: Windows 11, Windows 10
Server / Network Requirements Microsoft SQL Server required (not supplied). Network Point required for each work area

Order Codes

The Order Codes for RI Witness™ will depend on your particular configuration.

 Please contact a distributor in your region

Brochures

1.  Thornhill A, Orriols Brunetti X, Bird S, (2013). Measuring human error in the IVF laboratory using an electronic witnessing system. 17th World Congress on Controversies in Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Infertility, Lisbon. 1 Thornhill A, Orriols Brunetti X, Bird S, (2013). Measuring human error in the IVF laboratory using an electronic witnessing system. 17th World Congress on Controversies in Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Infertility, Lisbon.

2. Townsend N, Ah-Moye M, Bunyan K, Engley S, Evans D, Glover L, McClure A, Ogutu D, Richardson L, (2016). Can electronic witnessing with RFID tags safeguard patients and mitigate risk in an IVF laboratory?

3. Sanges F, Maggiulli R, Albricci L, Romano S, Scarica C, Schimberni M, Giallonardo A, Vattraino G, Ubaldi F, Rienzi L, (2013). Implementing an electronic witnessing system into a busy IVF clinic- one clinic’s experience.

4. Patel B, Schnauffer K, Gregoire, Kingsland CR, Troup S, (2013). An investigation into the efficiency of RFID electronic witnessing compared to manual witnessing.

5. Department of Health (2004). Independent review of the circumstances surrounding four adverse events that occurred in the Reproductive Medicine Units at The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. [online] London. Available at: http://www.who.int/patientsafety/information_centre/reports/Independent_review_Leeds.pdf [Accessed 12 May 2017].

6. Research Instruments Ltd. (2005). Test Report on Mouse testing of RFID Tagging System “IVF Witness”. Certificate of Analysis (Ectors, FJ, August 2005, GIGA Université de Liège,Belgium) Certificate of Calibration (Wragge-Morley, B. ETC, UK, May 2005) Certificate of Analysis (Pearce, J, May 2007, Embryotech, Wilmington USA)

7. Obradors, A. (2016). How can we mitigate the risk of error in the IVF Lab?

8. Forte, M., Faustini, F., Maggiulli, R., Scarica, C., Romano, S., Ottolini, C., Farcomeni, A., Palagiano, A., Capalbo, A., Ubaldi, F. and Rienzi, L. (2016). Electronic witness system in IVF – patients perspective. Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics, 33(9), pp.1215-1222.

9. Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussels. (2020). IVF Witness in 2019, Internal Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussels presentation: Unpublished.

10. Mental health in the workplace. (2017). World Health Organization. [online] Available at: https://www.who.int/mental_health/in_the_workplace/en/.

11. Cooke, S. Low-risk laboratory management. In: Organization and Management of IVF Units: A Practical Guide for the Clinician. Eds: SD Fleming & AC Varghese. New York. Springer. 2016; Chapter 7: pp115-152.3. World Health Organization: https://www.who.int/mental_health/in_the_workplace/en/

12. CooperSurgical. (2020). Nurture Fertility Report Increased Productivity Following the Introduction of RI Witness™. 

RI Witness™ Publications

Measuring human error in the IVF laboratory using an electronic witnessing system

Implementing an electronic witnessing system into a busy IVF clinic – one clinic’s experience.

Electronic Witness System makes patients less concerned about biological sample mix-up errors and comfortable with IVF clinical practice

Infallible processes in reproduction: Efficiency of preventative RFID systems and quality controls in an ART centre.

2017 ESHRE presentation – An 8 year snapshot of insightful data using RI Witness: an absolute necessity for your IVF laboratory – Dr Stephen Troup Scientific Director, IVI UK

Q: What is RFID? 
A. RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is a generic term for technologies that use radio waves to automatically identify objects. Labels with tiny microchips embedded in them are attached to all plasticware such culture dishes, test tubes and patient identity cards before being assigned to a patient. These microchips are read by the RI Witness readers. There is no need to directly scan the labels, the whole process is automatic and many tags can be read simultaneously.

Q: How does the RFID label transmit the information? 
A: RI Witness uses RFID tags and a reader. The reader sends out electromagnetic waves and the tag receives these waves. The RFID tag draws power from the field created by the reader and uses it to power the microchip’s circuits. The microchip then modulates the waves that the tag sends back to the reader and the reader converts the new waves into digital data.

Q: Are there any health risks associated with RFID and radio waves?
A: RI Witness uses a radio frequency similar to the signals received by your car radio. We have organised exhaustive independent Mouse Embryo Assay (MEA) studies to demonstrate that RI Witness RFID does not have any detrimental effect on the development of embryos. These tests used radio waves which are 700 times stronger than those used by the actual product.

Q: Why is RFID better than using barcodes? 
A: The most significant difference is that barcodes use line-of-sight technology. That is, a scanner has to “see” the barcode to read it, which means it is necessary to orientate the barcode towards a scanner for it to be read. Barcode systems therefore rely on the user remembering to confirm patients’ sperm, oocytes and embryos match. This can be prone to human error, and if not done correctly, can give a false record.

RFID, by contrast, doesn’t require line-of-sight. Tags can be read as long as they are within range of a reader. In addition, multiple RFID tags can be read at the same time, meaning that several items can be identified together. RI Witness uses this ability to automatically check everything that is brought into the working area.

RFID technology provides a level of security that can eliminate human identification errors. It monitors everything in every work area, every second of every day. It also offers an extremely large number of unique identities (UID). This means that each sample container can has its own UID and that procedures can be tracked in detail. The system knows exactly what has happened to the samples and which containers were used. The communication between tag and reader is very secure.