Barcode Scanner Use in Hospitals

Bar codes seem to be everywhere in modern society and hospitals are no exception. Hospitals are using bar codes to identify patients, manage medication, identify drugs, track test specimens, and track the sterilization of surgical tools. The use of bar code systems appears to be reducing medical mistakes, but implementation of a bar code system can be costly.

Implementation Cost

• According to the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, the estimated cost of implementing a bar code point-of-care system in a hospital with 191 beds is $377,000. The estimate includes the cost of bar code scanners, computer software and staff training. Other estimates indicate that a 500-bed hospital may pay close to $2 million dollars to implement a BPOC system.

Medication Errors

• With a bar code system, nurses scan the bar code on a patient and her medication into a computer. The computer then checks this information against the doctor's orders and alerts the nurse if there is problem. According to the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, using a bar code to verify medication reduces errors by up to 86 percent.

Bar Codes and the FDA

• The FDA does not require hospitals to use BPOC systems. FDA regulations, however, require the use of bar codes on certain medications and blood products. Bar code information on these items must include the national drug code number of the drug. Because of this regulation, even hospitals that do not utilize fully integrated bar code systems usually still have some bar code reading capabilities.