Bar Coding Innovations for Safety

An environment of safety is crucial in the healthcare arena.  Identification is one of the most basic, yet imperative elements of this milieu.  The purpose of this poster is to demonstrate the increase in safety through the use of bar coding technology. 

Implementation of this process occurred in an inpatient hospital facility that manages approximately 3500 deliveries per year.  Cooperative efforts of the Information Services team, clinical educators and clinical staff members joined to develop a plan to verify infant identification by altering the current bar coding technology utilized for medication administration to read and match bar coded bracelet labels.  Once this process was established, the initiative was rolled out to the actual staff members of the Labor & Delivery and Mother-Baby Units.  By linking infants to mothers through matching, bar coded bracelets, proper identification can be ensured with each infant encounter. 

Following the successful initiation of scanning for identification, barcode scanning entered the realm of breast milk identification.  This venture helped to ensure that babies are receiving the milk that was expressed by their mother.  Bar coded computer labels are generated and taken to the mother’s room where they are kept.  When the milk is expressed, the nursing staff is notified, and prior to the milk leaving the mother’s sight, one of the labels is placed on the breast milk container.  This can then be taken to be safely stored and when needed for feeding, the barcode is scanned with the infant bracelet to ensure the match. 

The result of this methodology has led to enhanced patient perception of safety while delivering care in an advanced, proactive, protective manner.  As was expected, some challenges did exist, one of the greatest being the need to reevaluate and eventually change the actual scanning devices.  Due to the small nature of the infant band, scanners with the capability to read the miniature barcode label had to be purchased. 

Continuous evaluation of this process exists with ongoing research to seek ways to further enhance our security and effectiveness.  Safety is paramount when caring for patients, as is evidenced through this innovative approach.