Patient safety
Preventable medical mistakes drove the FDA in 2006 to require that pharmaceutical manufacturers supply barcodes on prescription drugs. Hospitals moving to an automatic data capture (ADC) environment using barcodes have discovered that they improve many safety protocols:
Patient identification
Wristbands with customized barcodes printed at the patient registration point help clearly identify the patient, any medication allergies, dietary restrictions, chronic health conditions and other patient-critical data. Because these wristbands remain with the patient throughout the hospital visit, the choice of barcode printer is critical, since the image must withstand exposure to a variety of substances such as moisture, sanitizers and solvents.
Repackaged medication
Though prescription drugs now come pre-barcoded from the manufacturer, sometimes the hospital pharmacy must repackage the medication so that the correct dosage is provided, requiring access to a barcode label printer in the pharmacy department.
Lab samples
Barcode labels are used to identify drawn blood for lab testing, reducing the chance for blood specimen mix-ups. Blood transfusions and IVF clinics are other clinical processes benefitting from healthcare barcodes.
Asset and inventory management
Modern hospitals use an immense array of equipment and supplies, from high-tech robotic surgery devices to stents and catheters to gauze bandages and hospital linens. Improving your organization’s ability to track and manage the thousands of items adds to its bottom-line efficiency and enhances the overall quality of care.
Organizational logistics
Consider that nearly every logistical process in the hospital can be improved with barcode labeling: the stock room employee who picks requisitioned barcode items; the shipping or receiving department that generates a carton or package label; and the floor nurse who conducts a supplies inventory for re-ordering.
Hospitals are using many barcode applications, both clinical and non-clinical, within the hospital setting. That’s because healthcare barcodes are one of the best methods for tracking and managing patient-critical processes, medical orders, supplies, expensive equipment and internal logistics such as shipping and receiving. Barcode print solutions are affordable, accurate, and efficient. Anything that can be tagged or labeled can be bar-coded.
