Positive Breast Milk Identification: Expressed Bre...
blog post img

Positive Breast Milk Identification: Expressed Breast Milk (EBM) Solution


Eliminate EBM Administration Errors With Code Barcode Reading Technology

hospital

Legacy Health Systems (Legacy), a six-hospital healthcare system in  Portland, Oregon needed a solution to positively identify and match Expressed Breast Milk (EBM) to both mother and child. Having previously implemented a barcoded Bedside Medication Administration (BMA) process with Code’s wireless barcode readers, they had the foundation for Code’s Application Engineering team to create an effective barcoded EBM verification solution using Code's impressive CR2000 series product line.

Application Process

As part of their BMA process, patients admitted to Legacy Health System hospitals receive a unique barcoded patient identification wristband. Throughout the patient’s hospital stay, nurses and staff rely on a Code CR2600, or CR2700 series wireless barcode reader to positively identify a patient before medications are administered. Expectant mothers receive a sheet of matching barcode labels (master barcode labels) for placement on EBM bottles. The baby also receives a matching barcoded wristband upon arrival, and the unit floor station receives a matching barcode label sheet (verification barcode labels) as well. Once the mother expresses breast milk, she places a master barcode label on the bottle. Clinicians remove the bottle and place it in refrigerated storage. At a later time, a clinician retrieves the EBM bottle, scans the master barcode label placed on it, and then scans the verification barcode label the unit received when the mother was admitted. The Code Reader beeps once for a positive patient identification match and three times for a negative patient ID match.

breast milk

For a positive match, the clinician follows the feeding schedule as prescribed and creates individual smaller ounce EBM bottles, placing a label from the unit’s verification barcode label sheet on the new, smaller individual bottles. The bottles are then returned to refrigerated storage. At the time of feeding, the clinician retrieves the newly labeled EBM bottle and follows the hospital's BMA process. This includes logging into the Health Information System (HIS), scanning the baby’s barcoded patient ID wristband, then scanning the verification barcode label placed on the smaller EBM bottle. The HIS system alerts the clinician if the EBM matches, or does not match, the baby’s barcoded wristband to ensure the baby receives the correct bottle. All of this can take place at the bedside for speed and efficiency.

Avoiding Workarounds

To ensure clinicians follow the EBM verification process, supervisors connect and download via Bluetooth to retrieve each CR2600, or CR2700 scanner workflow history. Clinicians scan a ‘check-in’ bar code at the start of each shift which indicates to the supervisor who the clinician on duty is. In addition, supervisors can identify check-in history, the last eight EBM verification attempts, the results of each attempt, and the length of time passed from check-in to a verification attempt. The data allows supervisors to visually verify procedures are being followed.

Application Benefits

breast milk2

Feeding a baby the wrong mother’s breast milk exposes the baby to potential health risks. Considering the number of feedings delivered and the multiple steps in handling EBM, more and more hospitals recognize the need for implementing a positive patient identification workflow matching EBM to both mother and child and eliminating the health risks.

Why Code Readers

Code builds readers specifically for the healthcare arena. Designed and manufactured with special disinfectant-ready plastics, we make them easy to use and able to read any barcode including over 43 different symbologies. Code readers can even decipher damaged or dirty barcodes or barcodes found on curved or reflective surfaces with near zero-miss precision. For over 20 years, we has been an industry pioneer, leader, and champion for data capture innovation. By crafting and continuing to perfect our unique decoding algorithms, our scanning technology consistently delivers the unparalleled, image-based scanning and decoding performance industries depend on worldwide. This impressive bundle of decoding algorithms are embedded within every reader scan engine, making them the ideal reader for scanning barcodes on small bottles and infant wristbands. Additionally, Code readers feature a patented anti-glare technology for reading barcodes on wristbands through an incubator. Built on a javascript platform, Code readers are highly customizable and configurable to meet the needs of any application.

Solution Components

  • CR2000 Series CodeXML®
  • M3 Modem Proprietary
  • JavaScript Application

 

Works Cited

Share this Post

Recent Posts