PRODUCTS & SERVICES
Such a safety net, Funkhouser reducing errors and increasing patient
continued, can provide “greater safety.
patient care, improved patient and Point-of-care specimen labeling generally
staff satisfaction and a peace of works like this, according to DeMartini: Cli-
mind for family members who nicians apply a bar-coded label to a speci-
know that there is an objective, men container after the specimen has been
methodical manner to confirm collected from a patient at the patient’s bed-
patient identity.” Plus, the bar side or at the point for which the patient is
code on the wristband, can be being cared. Traditionally, labels for bedside
embedded with valuable informa- specimen labeling are preprinted by a lab
tion like patient allergies, she added, for all of the patients that will be seen that
which extends error reduction to the point day by all clinicians. Then the labels are
of care. manually sorted to be placed in order of the
drugs Bar-coded labels collection rounds for each clinician.
may eliminate at the point of care “Often, more than 200 labels are printed
a considerable per- for specimen collec- per day and sorted for the collection
centage of medication er- tion applications of- rounds,” DeMartini noted. “At each
rors, according to Gale White, vice president, fer a compelling patient’s room, clinicians must find and
infusion systems, B. Braun Medical Inc., and related return match the right label with the right patient
Bethlehem, PA. on investment, before affixing it to the specimen. By using
White argued that nearly 30 percent of urged Donna Lee, this method, there’s a possibility of placing
medication errors can be linked to IV pump Alliances Specialist, the wrong patient label on the specimen.
usage and that most of those estimated Healthcare, Honey- Being able to print the right label at the
errors can be traced to improper program- well Scanning &
Donna Lee,
patient’s bedside by first scanning the bar
ming. “These errors are caused by selecting Mobility, Black-
Honeywell Scanning
code on the patient’s identification wrist-
the wrong drug from the pump’s on-board wood, NJ.
& Mobility
band and then automatically printing a bar-
drug library, or misplacing a decimal point “A complete LIS [laboratory information coded specimen label on a mobile printer
while programming the pump’s delivery system] that utilizes ‘rights’ similar to the for that patient eliminates the possibility of
rate, or administering the drug to a patient ‘5 rights’ used in medication administra- placing a different patient’s label on the
for whom it was not intended,” he said. tion could result in easily measured cost specimen.” Using the bar-coded specimen
“Studies document that these errors and savings by ensuring that the right speci- label throughout the laboratory testing pro-
other pump programming transcription er- men is being collected from the right pa- cess further reduces the chance of the pa-
rors could be virtually eliminated with the tient and that the right tests are being run,” tient receiving someone else’s lab results
use of IV pump bar coding.” Lee noted. “The use of bar-coded labels in down the road, she added.
Pharmacists affix labels to the drugs they specimen collection eliminates ‘do overs’ DeMartini also noted that point-of-care
prepare that include the patient’s name, the that cause pain to the patient, costly lab laboratory labeling can save process time.
drug name and the IV pump delivery data. tests re-runs and potential misdiagnosis “Providing a clinician with real-time draw
“This label could be easily formatted with from mislabeled specimens.” Another bo- orders via a mobile computer reduces the
bar code symbols so the pump could be pro- nus is that bar codes can streamline a amount of time that the clinician spends
grammed through a hand held or pump- phlebotomist’s workflow, she added. walking to and from the lab or nurses’ sta-
based scanner that would positively pro- The typical ROI for such a system can be tion to receive updated orders,” she said.
gram the pump with the correct patient’s less than a year for an average-sized hos- “By scanning a patient’s wristband, a clini-
ID, the drug information and the pump de- pital, Lee indicated. cian can retrieve the draw order for a pa-
livery information,” White insisted. “This Cristina DeMartini, market development tient at the patient’s bedside and can collect
data would then be checked and verified leader, Zebra Tech- specimens and print labels for those speci-
automatically by the pump’s dose error re- nologies Corp., mens even if the order was just added.”
duction system and, after confirmation by Lincolnshire, IL, But Marga Ortigas-Wedekind, vice pres-
the care provider, the IV drug delivery could acknowledged that ident, marketing, Omnicell Inc., Mountain
be initiated with assurance that the right pharmaceutical View, CA, emphasized that bar coding is
patient is getting the right drug at the right labeling, patient “almost essential in tissue tracking.
rate.” identification or “Hospitals are under increasing pressure
On the flip side of a full-blown bar-coded wristbanding and to establish effective, electronic tracking and
medication verification solution that may be laboratory labeling compliance procedures for tissue,” Ortigas-
viewed as a “huge task,” according to Vivian are sound clinical Wedekind noted. “Joint Commission stan-
Funkhouser, principal, Global Healthcare
Cristina DeMartini,
application areas dards and AORN require hospitals to up-
Solutions, Motorola Enterprise Mobility So-
Zebra Technologies
for bar coding. But grade their tissue storage and issuance
lutions, Holtsville, NY, is the simple patient Corp. she prefers bar cod- processes.” Such standards are designed
wristband, which can be deployed and used ing laboratory specimen containers at the with patient safety in mind to help reduce
“relatively easy and quickly.” point of care as a “great opportunity” for infections in tissue and implant recipients.
See BAR CODE on page 38
www.hpnonline.com • HEALTHCARE PURCHASING NEWS August 2009 37
0908-PS-Barcode.pmd 37 7/13/2009, 5:20 PM
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