Smartphones Equipped with Barcode Scanning-Enabled Apps Help Manage Sterile Fluids More Effectively

| Healthcare

scan blood bag with smartphone

By Phil Hadreas, Healthcare Consultant, Scandit Inc.

Safe and efficient sterile fluid management is an ongoing challenge in today’s healthcare environments. Hospitals and clinics require a reliable, efficient sterile fluid monitoring and management system in order to provide suitable blood, plasma, and other vital materials to patients, for example. To increase staff operational efficiency this system needs to provide real-time track and trace information on items such as blood bags to ensure they are kept at a uniformly maintained temperature to prevent deterioration during transportation. The system also needs to record and confirm that an assigned blood bag has been transported and administered to the intended patient in need of transfusion.

Healthcare professionals can use smart devices equipped with barcode scanning-enabled applications to accurately and inexpensively administer a robust sterile fluid monitoring and management system. A computer vision-powered solution enables healthcare professionals to scan sterile fluid bags quickly using low- and mid-range smart devices in a wide range of environments, at a fraction of the cost of dedicated scanners. That’s why leading hospitals are integrating mobile data capture technology to coordinate sterile fluid monitoring and management systems and improve patient care.

At Scandit, we help healthcare enterprises across the world enhance workflow efficiency and control through mobile computer vision solutions. Our smart device-based data capture software transforms inexpensive smartphones, tablets and wearables into enterprise-grade barcode scanners—creating more intuitive and cost-effective healthcare processes. Today, you’ll learn how mobile computer vision solutions can help your hospital staff manage sterile fluids like blood bags, and drive superior patient care.

Using Barcodes to ID, Track & Manage Sterile Fluids

To maintain compliance and reduce medical errors, hospital teams rely on barcodes to identify and manage a variety of sterile fluids. These compact, versatile codes help healthcare staff keep track of the hundreds of samples being distributed across the hospital each day, and ensure the correct fluids reach the correct patients for transfusion.

Mobile computer vision enables healthcare teams to use smart device-based healthcare apps to effectively and safely administer sterile fluids. The  Scandit SDK Barcode Scanner SDK delivers the scanning functionality required to enable healthcare workers to use smartphones to identify fluid bags and get real-time track and trace information that confirms the sterile fluid is safe and being administered properly.

Using smart devices for sterile fluid management in healthcare settings reduces total cost of ownership compared to traditional barcode scanning hardware, but it also creates faster, error-free fluid administration workflows across healthcare environments. That means timely availability of blood and other fluids, more cost-effective healthcare logistics and exceptional quality of care for patients.

Multi-Scanning for Sterile Fluid & Blood Bags

Hospital enterprises can also leverage Scandit technology like MatrixScan to support even more efficient fluid management. MatrixScan is a feature of the Barcode Scanner SDK which enables any camera-equipped smart device to locate and process multiple barcodes at once. This technology enables a set of codes to be scanned up to three times faster on smart devices than with conventional scanners.

In the context of sterile fluid management, MatrixScan makes clinicians’ workflows more convenient because they may scan multiple barcodes on blood bags and specimens in a single instance rather than scan each code individually. Rather than having to scan each individual barcode on blood bags and other items, users can simply capture the entire set of codes with one scanning sequence. Best of all, this technology can highlight which barcodes have already been decoded via visual feedback in the user interface— reducing errors and improving workflows in the process.

With MatrixScan AR, healthcare workers can scan the barcodes on the fluid bags with any smart device and augmented reality (AR) overlays enable them to see critical data such as inventory information, product expiration dates, and stock levels right on the device screen. This simple, easy-to-use solution automates and connects workflows across many teams, creating significant financial and operational efficiencies as well as improving patient safety. See how the AR overlay works in the video below:

Enhance Overall Patient Care With Scandit

Ready to learn more about how your healthcare team can harness mobile data capture technology to transform critical workflows? Find out directly from Scandit customers who are already realizing the benefits of implementing mobile computer vision in healthcare settings.

ERS Medical, a provider of specialist patient transport and courier services to the National Health Service (NHS) and the wider UK healthcare sector has replaced the traditional PDAs they used previously with Scandit-powered smart devices to increase the speed and efficiency of delivery of pathological specimen bags. ERS Medical’s drivers were able to increase scan speeds by 50%, enabling them to move more quickly through their pick-up-and-drop-off schedule. Also, instead of paying £800 for each new PDA, ERS Medical spends just £100 for each smartphone. They also report the cost to repair or replace broken smartphones is much lower. The cost savings here can be applied to improving patient care.

Leeds Teaching Hospital has integrated Scandit computer vision into its mobile patient safety, product accountability and location traceability solution to capture vital data in a fraction of the time. The hospital saw a 95% improvement in cost and time efficiency when it implemented Scandit software in 114 departments as part of the UK Government’s Scan-4-Safety initiative. Dr. David Berridge, Deputy Chief Medical Officer at the Leeds Teaching Hospital commented, “Scan4Safety will allow us 24/7 tracking of our patients to allow our endoscopy, radiology and theatre teams to be as efficient as possible. It allows our clinicians to manage their patients more closely and safely, including possible contribution to reduction of never events. Being able to perform patient / product recalls at the touch of a button, with greater reassurance of completeness is a tremendous facility. Reducing unnecessary waste by reducing unnecessary stock, eliminating out of date stock and being able to be open and challenging about unwarranted clinical variation is essential for an efficient hospital of the future. Scan4Safety is a real addition to good clinical practice.”

Last but not least, be sure to connect with us if you need more information on how mobile computer vision and augmented reality (AR) can support your healthcare workflows. Visit the healthcare industry section of the Scandit website to access even more important resources. Together, we can support even better patient care outcomes across your enterprise.