Case Study: Bar Code Enabled Point Of Care (BCPC), Realizing The Value Of Bar Codes In A Clinical Environment

With the goal of moving toward the electronic medical record (EMR), the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) has advocated the use of bar codes in healthcare. Moreover, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) has also proposed regulations that impact this issue. Much has been written regarding the benefits bar codes can offer in supply logistics and billing, document management and point of care patient safety. And although few would dispute that bar codes can be very useful in reducing errors, streamlining processes and enhancing patient safety, many issues still loom large. Bar codes remain technically very challenging— from their symbology to the scanners that must read them. What are the key considerations? Symbology is the "language" of a bar code, and it's what the scanner must read. The bar code is a collection of white spaces and lines that represent an item, and that your computer uses to look up the record of information about that item.