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We’ve all heard the horror stories about the man who
had the wrong leg amputated, the wrong kidney removed or, the family who
left the hospital with the wrong infant. Identity mistakes in
healthcare are costlier in terms of dollars, reputation and human
suffering than in any other industry. With the recent push toward
electronic record keeping, pharmacies, labs and hospitals have eagerly
embraced barcode labels and thermal printing.
Let’s look take a look at healthcare barcode labeling
in action.
 Pharmaceutical manufacturers now affix direct thermal
labels and thermal transfer labels with barcodes onto their products.
Verifying medication identity by scanning barcode labels at the pharmacy
prevents up to 20% of medication dispensing errors. Pharmacies
have also begun to print their own barcode labels on low cost thermal
printers. These barcode labels include patient and dosing
information. Some hospital pharmacies track the internal movement
of medications using thermal transfer labels and direct thermal labels.
For example, a pharmacist may release a medication to a nurse
administrator who will then scan her identity barcode into the system to
record custody of the item before delivery to the patient. The
patient’s wristband barcode will then be scanned to record delivery and
administration of the medication.
Pharmacies utilizing barcode systems reap many
benefits aside from reducing dosing errors. State-of-the-art
barcode label generation and tracking systems help build robust
electronic databases that provide guidance with inventory management and
cost tracking. Thermal labels are the labels of choice for
pharmacies because the blank label media is available in formats that
can be easily stuck to curved surfaces.
Did you know that specimen identification errors
account for more than 160,000 medical errors every year? In an
effort to improve accuracy and efficiency, medical laboratories are
increasingly turning to state-of-the-art thermal printing and barcoding
technologies. Labeling specimens (urine, blood, etc) with barcode
labels at the collection site helps prevent misidentification.
In fact, more and more labs are turning to mobile printers that print
direct thermal labels in the patient’s presence. Studies show that
the specimen label error rates spike with the time and distance the
specimen travels from the patient. Therefore, printing barcodes on
blank labels at the time and place of collection is the recommended
method.
 Hospitals are now installing direct thermal label
printers and thermal transfer label printers throughout their admissions
areas. Barcoded wristbands instantly identify a patient at each
point of service, matching the patient with treatment orders.
Barcoded wristbands not only decrease medical error, they help with
precision billing and save valuable time. Instantly scanned
information no longer requires manual entry for every in-hospital
medical event.
Rolled blank labels, including thermal transfer
labels and direct thermal labels, prove perfectly suited to the many
needs of healthcare labeling. Desktop and mobile thermal printers
are part of medicine’s front line defense against medical error.
At uprintlabels.com, we’re proud to support the healthcare industry with
a wide variety of durable blank label media.
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