Laboratorians, lab decision-makers and healthcare service professionals know first-hand how important patient safety is. The entire culture of medical facilities has evolved to include key leaders, patient safety committees, and an educated workforce. Safety protocols and procedures now utilize technology to reduce medical errors and improve patient safety.
When you think about how technology can improve patient safety, think “barcode labeling.” Better yet, think “2D (2-Dimensional) barcode labeling.” A 2D barcode is not comprised of “bars” or “lines,” but rather of black-and-white “cells” or “modules” arranged in a matrix pattern—often laid out in a square. This square design is often easier to scan than lineal barcodes because it fits better on curved surfaces such as test tubes or patient wristbands. It can also store a mind-boggling amount of data, including pertinent point-of-care or hospital protocols all in a symbol as small as a 2 mm square.
Hospital professionals are well aware of the “5 Rights to Medication Safety Initiative”—Right Patient, Right Drug, Right Time, Right Dose, and Right Form. When a patient is admitted to a hospital or healthcare service, a profusion of information starts to be captured about that patient. It all begins when the patient is “tagged” with a barcode wristband that is linked to his or her EHR (Electronic Health Record) for correct patient identification.
A major requirement in patient safety is ensuring that the right drugs are administered. With a 2D barcode system in place, nurses and other medical professionals can carry a wireless 2D scanner and move unimpeded between a nursing station, a medication cabinet or cart, and the patients' beds. They can simply scan the barcodes on their employee badge, a drug container and a patient's wristband, gaining access to the EHR for more background on the patient as well as the medication, including specifics about the type of drug, whether it is formulaic or generic, the recommended dosage, the frequency, and so on. Once scanned, that data can automatically populate fields in an electronic database, recording the time and dosage within permanent patient records, and thus eliminating keying errors. Nurses are then able to deliver safer and more efficient care—without having to worry about medication errors.
Initiatives in all forms of healthcare services are now driven by the National Patient Safety Goals (NPSGs) and focus on the need for at least two patient identifiers when providing care, treatment, and services. With the understanding that wrong-patient errors occur in virtually all stages of diagnosis and treatment, the NPSG objectives are to (1) reliably identify the individual as the person for whom the service or treatment is intended, and (2) match the service or treatment to that individual. Those two identifiers must be directly associated not only in the hospital ward, but in laboratory blood products and specimen containers, as well as medical treatments and procedures.
For medical laboratories, timely and accurate specimen labeling is expected to ensure correct patient identification from collection to results reporting. Electronic identification such as 2D barcodes can certainly include two or more person-specific identifiers to comply with this requirement.
Barcodes clearly provide patient tracking, sample management, peace of mind, and a demonstrable reduction in loss or liability—helping ensure ongoing patient safety. They speed up record retrieval and are more secure for patients in terms of anonymity, accuracy, and elimination of human error. With barcodes, transcription errors and hard-to-read labels can be virtually banished from the workplace. Imagine being able to essentially eliminate human error in your hospital and labs!
Handwritten labels can be a nuisance and are susceptible to legibility problems. Statistics show that one of every 300 handwritten characters will be wrong. If you are writing labels all day, with thousands of characters, the potential is high for numerous mistakes. Not everyone has the most legible handwriting, and with fatigue it tends to get worse. This can be a serious problem when several people are handling sensitive specimens, directly impacting patient safety.
Another disadvantage of handwritten labels is that pen or marker inks often smudge, fade, or run during handling. Some inks can completely disappear when exposed to certain chemicals or solvents. What good is a laboratory label if it can't stand up to laboratory conditions?
Barcoding has become essential, not only in healthcare, but also for many major industries. As a result, a lot of product development has been put into durable labeling materials. Some can specifically resist moisture, harsh laboratory chemicals, cryogenic temperatures, and repeated handling. Labels for tricky applications such as paraffin blocks, slides, autoclaves, etc. are also readily available.
There are many cutting-edge laboratory labeling solutions designed to meet patient safety requirements. For instance, one of our own projects involves a syringe label that when wrapped around the tube will not impair reading and administering patient injections. The label design allows sufficient room for barcode printing, yet has a low profile, eliminating problems should the syringe need to be administered through an IV line or be attached to a pump.
Label sets are also popular in laboratories—meaning you can have the same barcode information printed on two or more labels of varied shapes and sizes, such as a round cap label and a rectangular test tube label. Multiple lab tests often require extra labels, and thus multipart barcode labels are commonly used in HIS and LIS programs.
There is barcode labeling software on the market that enables laboratories, hospital admissions, and even doctor's offices to print their own labels in the quantities they need when and where they need them. If they are using 2D barcode labels, healthcare professionals can immediately scan and store a virtually endless amount of information in their EHR database.
With barcode labeling, the possibilities are virtually endless; you just have to know where to look. Ask a label manufacturer who really understands your healthcare labeling needs. Patient safety can, and will, drastically improve with barcode labeling.
Sadie Stone is a Part-time Marketing Assistant for Electronic Imaging Materials, Inc. She is pursuing a Master's degree in Conservation Biology at Antioch University New England. Juan Munoz is Innovation Coordinator at Electronic Imaging Materials, Inc. He co-invented a patent for durable laminating labels used in pathology labs.
