Zebra solution boosts blood scanning accuracy by 50%

The Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) in Melbourne has sped up the processing of multiple barcodes on blood bags using Zebra Technologies’ customised handheld scanning solution. The technology has helped increase the RCH’s efficiency by 50%, enabling clinicians to administer life-saving transfusions quickly and safely, while reducing human errors.

The customised solution includes configuring the Zebra DS8100 barcode scanner with the Zebra 123SCAN application to instantly recognise and capture the barcodes on a blood bag in a single scan. This helps ensure all blood bag data is accurately registered in the hospital’s electronic medical records (EMR) system.

“Prior to implementing the Zebra solution, clinicians had to scan each barcode on the blood bag and remember their correct sequencing order. This was time-consuming and prone to human error,” RCH Chief Nursing Information Officer Adrian Hutchinson said. “When it comes to blood transfusions, every minute counts. With Zebra, we’ve automated our entire scanning process so multiple barcodes are scanned sequentially at the same time, enhancing the accuracy and efficiency of our data documentation. Most importantly, this has increased our patient safety, which is always our primary concern.”

The RCH has provided specialised paediatric care for over 150 years. It has a staff base of more than 4000 employees and provides a full range of clinical services and care to patients. The hospital is the designated major trauma centre for children and adolescents in Victoria and a national centre for cardiac and liver transplantation.

“We are delighted that Zebra’s solution is helping to improve the RCH’s blood transfusion workflow and freeing up the clinicians’ time to deliver better patient care,” Zebra Technologies Regional Director of Australia and New Zealand Tom Christodoulou said. “Zebra is committed to delivering industry-tailored solutions to serve the needs of hospitals, with the goal of improving the delivery of care for patients around the world.”