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Over 600 Gryphon imagers are currently used in the transfusion, hematology, intensive care and neonatology departments. The solution will be expanded to the other departments in the hospital in the near future.
“In healthcare, the acquisition of flawless information can sometimes mean the difference between life and death. When a patient is administered the wrong medication as a result of inaccurate information, it can lead to serious and even fatal consequences. Getting the right information is especially crucial in the transfusion department that supplies blood and blood products to the rest of the hospital," indicated Jan van der Wijst, supervisor of logistics within UMC St Radboud in Nijmegen. "We use all means possible to assure a safe process without error. We monitor and update the system constantly," says Van der Wijst.
The blood administration process at UMC St Radboud hospital requires two checks, one in the laboratory and one in the ward, before being administered to a patient. The laboratory process has been automated for over ten years. It includes making sure the blood group corresponds to that of the patient and that the blood or blood products in the lab are used by the expiration date. The patient's blood is also checked for antibodies. Once this was done, the materials would then pass to the second check in the ward, which was performed manually. Two nurses would check all the characteristics of the blood to be administered to the patient, as well as the identity of the patient. Despite the two independent checks, there was still a very slight chance of error.
Patient safety is always a hospital’s top priority. UMC St Radboud, with its 1,000-beds, over 9,000 employees and 3,000 university students, wanted to eliminate the margin of error so it selected an automated solution for the whole process, using the MIPS Cyber Track module and Gryphon™ healthcare scanners GD4100-HC and GD4430-HC, which read the bar codes on the blood bags. With this new system, the nurse must scan the bar code on the blood bag and then the individual patient code before the blood or blood products can be administered. In this way, the match confirmed in the lab earlier is checked twice. The bar code on the ID card of the nursing staff is also scanned, creating an effective track & trace system that can monitor the whole process, from beginning to end, in real time. However, the most important aspect of this new system is the enhanced security. The risk of life-threatening situations due to the wrong blood bag being administered has been reduced to an absolute minimum. A transfusion can only be performed after all the steps of the protocol have been followed precisely. If a step is not completed correctly, the system sends a 'stop' message, and the process is blocked.
Thanks to Datalogic’s products, processes that were previously handled manually are now automated, reducing the risk of human error and improving operation efficiency as well as the quality of service offered to the patient. Datalogic’s (datalogic.com) specially designed Gryphon imagers for the healthcare industry offer high performance in light and ergonomic devices that include disinfectant-ready enclosures treated with anti-microbial additives to provide extra protection from daily cleaning and disinfection from specialized cleaning solutions. This, combined with Datalogic’s patented ‘Green Spot’ technology, allows operators to verify good read feedback with a green spot that appears directly on the code.
Giulio Berzuini, General Manager & VP, Hand-Held Scanners, Datalogic ADC commented,“efficient hospital management is fundamental for guaranteeing patients fast and accurate assistance. We are very proud to be one of the few companies in the world that offers specialized products and solutions for healthcare operators with our Gryphon healthcare line of imagers, which contribute to enhanced efficiency and safety in environments such as hospitals, where even the slightest error can prove to be fatal.”
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