How Barcode Scanners Make Healthcare Safer
Do you work in a health or social care setting? Are you concerned about making as many of your daily processes as ‘contact-free’ as possible? Do data entry errors worry you? If so, you may find barcode scanners to be a useful addition to your workflow.
Busy Modern Environments Require Modern Solutions
Many of today’s health and social care workers are faced with huge caseloads and not a lot of time to deal with each person on their list. This high-pressure environment can be stressful, and increases the risk of the worker making mistakes that could be very serious for their patient or client.
Data entry errors may not mean much when they’re a mere misprice in a supermarket or a bug that gets caught during the testing phase of software development. A data entry error that records information on the wrong person’s case file, however, could have far-reaching repercussions. Barcode scanners help us record information more accurately and quickly.
New Bugs Have Made Us More Aware of Contact Risks
In addition to simple data entry errors, we’re now more acutely aware of other risks, too. While COVID-19 may have been the bug that attracted attention worldwide, there are other antibiotic-resistant bacteria that present a serious health risk to immunocompromised patients, the elderly, and those recovering from operations. The traditional idea of a clipboard at the end of each bed and a nurse or care worker carrying a pen from room to room is now thought of as a potential transmission vector for dangerous infections.
Going ‘contactless’ for things like recording a patient’s vitals and updating care records may seem like a small thing, but it can make a big difference. Barcodes don’t just save time during a nurse’s rounds, they keep everyone on the ward that little bit safer.
How Barcode Scanners Can Help Your Workflow
Barcode scanners allow healthcare workers to update records and take notes without having to handle a pen and paper. Today, there are specialist barcode scanners designed for use in healthcare that are made with antimicrobial properties. These scanners are designed to resist the growth of:
- Mold and mildew
- Bacteria
- Other microbes
The scanners are easy to clean, lightweight, and easy to use. Whether you’re scanning barcodes on medication in a pharmacy or scanning charts to update a patient’s records electronically, using this automatic, contactless method reduces the risk of infection spread and data entry errors.
Protect Yourself, Your Patients and Your Co-workers
Whether you work in a patient-facing role, handle biohazard materials or are in an administrative position in a health care facility, taking a contactless approach to your work helps keep everyone safer during these challenging times. Using an antimicrobial barcode scanner is easy and the scanners we offer can connect to most modern computers and software.
The enhanced accuracy of barcodes can be invaluable too. Rather than trying to spell a patient’s surname, or type out a long, confusing patient ID number, simply scan their barcode to access their healthcare records. There’s no risk of confusing two patients with similar names, or typing a record incorrectly and losing important information about symptoms or treatments if you fail to notice the error during the consultation.
Discover The Power of Barcodes for Healthcare Professionals
If you work in a healthcare setting and would like to know more about the features of our barcode scanners and how they can help you record data more quickly and more accurately while also reducing the risk of spreading infectious diseases, contact us today. Our team of experts would be happy to discuss your use case and work with you to find the right solutions.
