Healthcare
Patient safety is always going to be a key driver in the healthcare
sector. However healthcare organisations are increasingly
recognising that technology can help them save time and
reduce errors thus enhancing patient safety and reducing costs.
As medical staff and hospitals are under pressure, either from
the insurance companies or local legislation, to provide
traceability within patient care they need to ensure that at all
points of care, identification is easy and accurate. Patient
wristbands with 1 or 2D barcodes are now the defacto standard
for simple effective patient ID.
Mis-identification can cause delays in treatment if appointments
are missed or test results and scans can be ‘lost’ because they
were filed incorrectly. In extreme circumstances, patients can
receive the wrong treatment because incorrect records are
being maintained. It is therefore vital that patients, their records
and their test specimens are identified correctly and that this
information is quickly and easily established throughout their
treatment.
Using Zebra wristband printers for patient ID and mobile or
desktop printers to label medical records and lab test samples,
provides medical staff a critical first step in many patient-
safety-improvement initiatives. Incorporating a bar code on the
wristband and medical record alongside any text provides a vital
extra safeguard against mistaken identity as information on the
patient can be pulled from up-to-date patient information held
on any of the linked systems.
The market for healthcare bar code solutions however is ripe
with opportunity, not only in terms of patient safety, but also in
terms of unmet demand for broader applications of the
technology within healthcare organisations. Not only are these
technologies being used to help reduce identification mistakes,
they are now frequently being used to speed up hospital
processes from admission to discharge, from the pharmacy to
the wards. Integrated medication administration, specimen
management, asset management and inventory control are just
a few industry opportunities that are poised for growth. For
example with increased instances of counterfeit drugs on the
rise, applications for a hospital pharmacies to use barcode
labels to provide a full audit trail has obvious benefits.
RFID has widespread potential within the healthcare space and
many hospitals are
using various forms
of RFID for patient
and asset tracking.
Generally,
the
application of RFID
technologies
in
hospitals has been
modest to date,
primarily due to cost
issues. However like
most electronic technologies, RFID unit costs have fallen
dramatically within the past few years, and a movement towards
greater RFID use is anticipated in the foreseeable future.
Ultimately, a mix of both technologies—RFID and bar coding—
will provide the optimal return on investment (ROI) for most
healthcare providers.
For more information on healthcare applications for Zebra
printers please visit
www.virtualzebra.com
For all your requests, please contact your Lexit Group Account Manager.
Printers
&
Software
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