With the amount of patient safety challenges facing modern healthcare it’s difficult for the industry to manage information. Everyday hospitals deal with inventory complications, tracking materials, and patient validation. Not only is this time consuming to perform manually, it also allows for human error.
However,
barcodes supply an easy-to-use and cost-effective solution to these current problems. Barcodes enable quick, accurate data entry for the healthcare industry, allowing time to be spent increasing efficiencies instead of manually entering data. Here are a few benefits of implementing barcode scanners into your healthcare facility.
1. Inventory
Inventory control is a complex and time-consuming process that every healthcare facility must deal with. Barcodes help manage these inventories wherever they are located, so that the right materials are available when and where you need them. Scanning the barcode on a product can also speed up the reorder process. A barcode-scanning system can be designed to automatically reorder products when they reach a specific inventory level, or prevent surgical utensils from being left inside a patient. The last thing you want to do is create an inventory control nightmare in your healthcare facility.
2. Tracking Materials
Barcodes can track a supply to a particular patient and also identify the clinician who used it with the patient. Additionally, barcodes can be used to track an item back to the manufacturer, allowing for defective items to be refunded by the distributor. Anything that can be identified with numbers or numbers and letters can be tracked using barcodes, including medical records and laboratory results.
3. Patient Validation
The most important validating function barcodes and barcode scanners provide is the ability to verify that the patient being treated is the right patient and that the treatment is appropriate. Nurses can scan a barcode to confirm that the item they are about to use with a patient is the item ordered by the doctor. They can also see that they have used the item with the right patient by scanning the barcode on the patient’s wristband and the barcode on the item.
Barcodes can be used in a variety of ways and have been proven to be a cost-effective solution in the healthcare industry, but implementing them is up to you.
What other benefits do barcodes offer in healthcare? Let us know by sounding off below!
With the amount of patient safety challenges facing modern healthcare it’s difficult for the industry to manage information. Everyday hospitals deal with inventory complications, tracking materials, and patient validation. Not only is this time consuming to perform manually, it also allows for human error.
However,