Blood and Saline Bag—Complicated Scanning Made Easy!

So Many Barcodes, So Little Time

For patients who need a blood transfusion, barcode labeling is truly life or death scanning. With so many barcodes to scan on a single blood bag, the process of trying to hide and scan the right ones, in the right order adds just a wee bit of stress. IV bags pose a different problem sporting a single white barcode printed on the bag which is then encased inside of another clear bag adding layers of reflected complication.

Is there a solution for scanning complicated barcodes and parsing only correct information needed ignoring the rest? Why, yes there is a solution, it is called Code.

Barcodes, Barcodes, Barcodes

Historically, blood transfusion required two nurses to be available for the whole process because of the careful checking of whether the medication or blood matched the patient. The healthcare industry has focused on addressing this issue by adopting new processes and technology to combat human error.

Barcodes and reliable readers significantly cut down on the human error but issues still loom. Reading these barcodes is a time consuming and more complicated process. It isn't your typical point, scan, beep and onto next process. Blood bags have so many barcodes the readers light up like a Christmas tree and the nurses are not sure which of the barcodes was read. IV bags might only have a single barcode, but it is printed white and most scanner just can't perform the task.

Overall barcodes have delivered process improvements for every healthcare workflow and offered valuable checks and balances ensuring patient safety, nurses just simply need their barcode scanners to work as hard as they do. That means they need the ability to read these very difficult barcodes with near zero-miss efficiency.

Barcode scanning technology requires contrast for accurate reads. If the barcode in question doesn't show enough contrast between its light and dark elements, scanners fail to register any information. Saline bags are the perfect example of this with their white barcodes printed on the transparent material of the bag. It is hard for a lot of basic barcode readers to pick up, plus the added illumination makes the code all but disappear. This would require nurses to devise a creative solution to add a solid color behind the bag while simultaneously trying to scan the barcode. Not very easy or efficient.

Blood bags have 4, 5, 6, or more barcodes printed on the front label. Each barcode used for a different purpose and serving a specific function. To put it simply, a basic barcode reader just gets confused and will scan the barcode that is the easiest to scan. Often it has trouble focusing on a specific barcode. Nurses find themselves again trying to work around the problem covering up barcodes they didn't want to scan, in order to encourage the scanning of the ones they need. Again, not so helpful or efficient right?

Code to the Rescue

That's where Code readers come in. With Code, healthcare professionals achieve accurate results the first time every time. Code's barcode scanning technology ensures that scanners can read omnidirectionally and against all types of backgrounds, making colored barcodes, reflection, or contrast issues no longer a problem. Code barcode scanners will read the white barcodes on saline bags on the first try (mic drop).

Code healthcare scanners are customizable to read every barcode on a blood bag at once, blocking data from the codes your team doesn't need. This custom blood bag scanning module is also available for your mobile workflow. If your mobile HIS has integrated Code's CortexDecoder software-based barcode scanning then you're all set! Code's healthcare readers and scanning technology are purpose-built for just these types of complicated workflows. Genius? We think so. It is time to get the job done faster and more efficiently with Code.

Code ensures the most simple and reliable blood and saline bag scanning experience possible.