SATO resolves Patient Identification and Blood Tracking issue at Mayday University Hospital.
End user: SATO-Mayday University Hospital Case Study
System: Barcode Data Capture and Tracking System
Benefits: More efficient tracking of patients, treatments and medicines, increasing hospital productivity
 This case study provides an overview of the problems confronting the Mayday University Hospital with regard to accurately identifying patients and blood samples taken for laboratory analysis.
Overview
Key studies such as the SHOT (SeriousHazards of Transfusion) Report have highlighted the problems facing all hospitals in the UK relating to the positive identification of patients and the transfusion of blood and blood products. One of the primary recommendations of the report was the 'use of information technology to reduce the opportunities human error'.
New technology would be used to replace the previous practice of hand writing a patient's details onto a wristband on admission with all the problems associated with this, e.g. poor legibility and misinterpretation, which could lead a significant risk for the patient. Like many of its contemporaries, the Mayday University Hospital in Croydon, Surrey - a major hospital with 700 beds and 3000 employees serving South London - identified the need for a more proactive and co-ordinated approach to this crucial area of patient care.
Action
Working in conjunction with Torex, the IT company responsible for the hospital's main computer operating system, SATO installed their CT400 thermal transfer wristband printers at strategic locations within the hospital. The CT400 is ideal for this application as SATO has developed and manufactured the cover from a special anti-microbial material, which acts as an additional guard against infection or cross contamination.
Taking the information from the Electronic Patient Record on the hospital's Patient Administration System, a machine printed wristband is produced containing all the patient's details in clearly legible, human readable and barcode formats. The barcode is in a QR2D format, which allows it to be scanned in any orientation. "The use of a QR2D two dimensional barcode allows the code to contain four times more data than competitor systems and they don't have to be held flat to be scanned properly. In fact, up to 30% of the code can be obscured and it will still scan. This obviously saves time, especially in emergency situations" say Charles Ison, SATO's Healthcare Projects Manager.
To minimise the possibility of errors during crucial procedures such as drug administration, the wristband can be scanned using a hand held scanner to accurately verify the patient's identity. Encouraged by the success of the patient identification system, the hospital commissioned the development of a Phlebotomy System module. Confirmation of a patient's identity is achieved by visually checking their wristband. A blood sample is then taken.
The barcode on the patient's wristband is scanned and the details are transmitted, using an infra-red link which negates the use of cabling and connectors, direct to a portable SATO MB 200 thermal printer which produces a unique label for the patient's sample blood tube. These labels are produced from a synthetic thermal material that can be frozen to minus 40º C and thawed in warm water at 37º C in a centrifuge without degradation. This is a vast improvement over the previous system of hand written labels which degraded with repeated freezing and thawing. The hospital currently employs 45 SATO CT400 wristband printers and is tasked with having one printer per ward upon completion of a new building programme. They also have eight Phlebotomy Systems in place.
Benefits
The partnership between Mayday and SATO has resulted in substantial benefits for the hospital including:
- Reduced risk of patient and blood sample identification errors
- Enhanced patient care
- An overall improvement in efficiency
Charles Ison, SATO's Healthcare Projects Manager says, "We are delighted with the success of the Mayday project as we have been able to provide a solution that significantly reduces patient risk. We were able to supply the complete system and as a major manufacturer we are also able to provide the highest levels of customer service through our dedicated technical support team."
The SATO Corporation is the world's leading manufacturer of integrated patient identification and label printing systems with its European headquarters being based in Brussels , Belgium . SATO has been developing and implementing similar systems in Japan . Hence, the hospital contacted SATO in the UK for help.
To download the SATO-Mayday case study (pdf), please click here
For more information on MB Series: click here for the MB20xi and click here for the MB400
For more information on CT 400 click here |
