Benefits of Barcoding and Other Scanning Technologies in Healthcare

Barcode technology is used in almost every industry, and healthcare is no exception. From barcode medication administration to using a barcode scanner for quick patient verification, barcodes provide multiple advantages to healthcare professionals. Just like barcodes, other scanning technologies such as document scanning, and Optical Character Recognition also provide numerous benefits to healthcare professionals.

Barcode Technology

A barcode scanner helps ensure patient safety and medication management in healthcare. Below is how barcodes provide benefits to doctors and healthcare workers.

Decode Barcode Patient Safety: Barcodes help decode barcode patient safety by verifying their identities using mobile devices. Healthcare workers can either use an off-the-shelf barcode scanner app or choose a barcode scanner SDK to develop one with just a few lines of code. Find out how to choose a barcode scanner SDK here.

Medication Administration: Prescribed medication contains Data Matrix codes that help verify its authenticity. All you need is a barcode scanner app that supports decoding Data Matrix codes and you can perform scanning without any hassle.

Inventory Management: Inventory management is highly crucial for hospitals as a single mistake could not only cost a lot but also impact someone’s health. With a barcode scanner, inventory workers can get access to everything from the status of the stock to the location of a consignment. Within a few seconds, inventory managers can get information about any medication.

Specimen Tracing and Tracking: Another use of barcode technology in healthcare is to track and trace blood and laboratory samples right back to their origin in real-time.

Patient Information Sharing in Real-Time: Critical data can be linked with barcodes on the patient wristbands that doctors and healthcare workers can use to access info in real-time. No need to look for documents here and there, as a single scan is all it takes.

Document Scanning

Like barcodes, document scanning is another technology that provides multiple benefits to doctors and healthcare workers.

Quick Admission and Less Paperwork: Document scanning reduces dependency on paperwork. In healthcare, Electronic Healthcare Records (EHR) automate multiple tasks and help provide better care to patients. Some of the benefits include quick patient admission, more reliable prescribing, and up-to-date patient information. All in all, efficient patient care.

Centralized Information: With EHRs, all patient information can be stored in one place. Hence, doctors don’t have to look for multiple files or documents to access the information they’re looking for.

Better Data Security: Data security is critical in healthcare. With HIPAA compliance, Electronic Health Records help keep all data secure. By controlling authorization access, healthcare workers can also ensure information privacy.

Enhanced Staff Collaboration: Electronic Health Records can be shared with doctors and healthcare workers to help enhance collaboration. Since no information needs to be reproduced on paper, the data can be shared quickly.

Optical Character Recognition

OCR or Optical Character Recognition also helps streamline healthcare workflows for better efficiency. Below are some of its uses.

Automatic Data Extraction: Optical character recognition helps read and extract standard symbols and alphanumeric characters from images. As a result, it helps in quickly searching and retrieving data from critical documents. Healthcare workers need to type relevant keywords, and they can access relevant documents.

Scanning Lot No. on Drug Bottles: There are some pharmaceutical products that do not contain barcodes. In such a scenario, healthcare workers can use OCR technology to extract the lot or ref numbers. Similarly, staff ID badges may not contain barcodes. Hence, OCR technology can be used for verification.

Editable and Searchable Records: OCR technology helps digitize and maintain editable and searchable records for higher speed and improved efficiency.