Wasp Barcode Technologies, a provider of small business productivity solutions, unveiled today the WWS450H healthcare barcode scanner, designed specifically for the healthcare industry, which will improve patient safety, prevent medical errors and increase caregiver productivity.
The WWS450H is used for the checking of patient and prescription records, scanning medicine packaging or hospital equipment, updating inventories or scanning 2D and postal barcodes in shipping and receiving.
Other features of the scanner include fast, efficient barcode scanning, antimicrobial protection for “protection against odor-and-stain causing bacteria and disinfectant-friendly housing to protect the scanner from alcohol cleaning, preventing discoloration, corrosions, and hardware malfunction,” making it suitable for use in patient rooms, laboratories, and pharmacies, according to the press release. It also has wireless connectivity.
"Wasp Barcode has a long history of delivering products to help businesses operate more efficiently. Over the years, we've received quite a few requests for a product for the healthcare industry that would increase productivity and safety," said Brian Sutter, director of marketing at Wasp Barcode Technologies. "To answer this demand and best serve the healthcare industry, we created a product that is mobile, durable, affordable and safe to use in sterile environments.”Wasp Barcode Technologies’ asset-tracking system, which tells the location and status of a healthcare facility’s assets (like vehicles, tools, medical equipment, software and IT infrastructure), “includes a USB adapter for the base that can be plugged into a PC to quickly upload data up to 295 feet away from the adapter using wireless connectivity.”
Barcode data is then instantly added to a spreadsheet, document, or database, without needing to be entered manually, saving time, and improving accuracy. Identifying patients correctly and the proper dispensing of medications are critical to patient safety. When mistakes are made in transcribing medical records, understanding physicians’ orders and misidentifying patients, there can be countless injuries and loss of life.
Back in 2006, the FDA mandated that drug manufacturers must use barcodes on most prescription drugs, certain over-the-counter drugs and biological products (such as blood), the white paper reported. The FDA estimated at that time that the implementation of these regulations would result in a “50% reduction in medication errors, prevent more than 500,000 adverse events and save $93 billion over the next 20 years,” according to the white paper.
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Deborah DiSesa Hirsch is an award-winning health and technology writer who has worked for newspapers, magazines and IBM in her 20-year career. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by
Carrie Schmelkin
