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Bar-coding technology can reduce lab test errors

Patient Safety Monitor Alert, April 21, 2004

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A developer of portable technology solutions for hospitals created a wireless, hand-held bar-coding system called CareCollect, designed to reduce errors when collecting specimens and reporting lab test results.

CareCollect allows healthcare providers to scan a bar code on a patient's wristband as a way to identify the patient, verify orders, and print a time-stamped bar code label for any collected specimens. Providers can feel comfortable that they are collecting the right specimens and performing the right tests on the correct patient.

Washington Hospital Center, the largest hospital in Washington, DC, wanted a way to collect laboratory specimens more accurately after routine reviews of patient records revealed that specimens were occasionally labeled incorrectly, linking test results to the wrong patients. They found that the wireless bar-coding system helped reduce these errors. 

"This is a time bomb waiting to happen in every hospital across the country," said Craig Feied, MD, director of the Institute for Medical Informatics in Washington, DC. "When we really look closely, it's easy to find examples where patients suffer from small breakdowns in process. It's a serious problem because the wrong dose of drugs or a transfusion of the wrong blood type can kill a patient."

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