A student from the University of Dundee, UK has developed a way to help people with hidden medical conditions remain safe and stylish with some help from RFID technology, reports TMCnet.

Emergency Medical Aid (EMA) jewelry is designed to help paramedics dealing with stricken patients – asthma, allergies, diabetes, epilepsy and other conditions – to identify the problem and deliver the appropriate treatment. However, most are reluctant to wear it because they claim to be unattractive and mark the wearer out as being afflicted by a medical condition of some kind.

The solution calls for implanting chips into either existing jewelry or new rings, bracelets and other items that take into account the tastes of the intended wearer. The embedded RFID tag will carry the unique identifier and relate to information about the wearer’s medical condition, which is held on the National Health Service (NHS) database.

Paramedics scan the patient’s body and pick up the chip, if present, instantly giving medical staff more about the wearer’s condition. It can also display a medical history of the patient, allowing paramedics to administer potentially life-saving treatment.

The student, Dougie Kinnear, devised the idea after discovering that EMA jewelry did not work as well as intended due to the stigma some saw as being attached to it and the fact is was aesthetically displeasing.

Read the full story here.