The Effect of Barcode Technology Use on Pathology Specimen Labeling Errors

Abstract

Pathology specimen labeling errors occur for a variety of reasons. We investigated the use of barcode technology as a method to improve the accuracy of pathology specimen labeling and patient safety. We also assessed nurses' perceptions of system quality, information quality, service quality, user satisfaction, and net benefits. Sixty-eight perioperative nurses who work in a teaching hospital in Taiwan completed the survey. Nurses scored net benefits as highly contributing to their satisfaction, whereas system quality contributed most to dissatisfaction. Further, we analyzed pathology specimen records before and after implementing the barcode system and found that specimen management errors significantly decreased. The use of a reliable barcode system could improve specimen labeling accuracy and enhance nurses' satisfaction with this technology.

Exploring the Outcomes and Satisfaction of Automated Physiological Monitoring Systems Among Nurses

“…Scores of higher than 3 were obtained for all indicators of information quality, which indicates that the nurses were concerned about data accuracy and completeness. Although the implementation of physiological monitoring systems led to a decrease in the documentation error rate, 18,27 our study revealed that most nurses perceived the accuracy of data transmitted from the automated devices to the NIS, which could be attributed to the elimination of manual error-prone data entry. Questionnaire items with lower scores included data storage response time, data transmission speed, and system stability.…”

“…13 The ISSM has already been validated in various fields, including Web systems, e-commerce systems, knowledge management systems, and Health ISs. [26][27][28][29] With system and information quality achieved after the implementation of a healthcare IS, the intention to use it and user satisfaction can be increased, leading to a reduction in personnel costs and medication errors. Therefore, the continuous provision of system services after implementation of a healthcare IS is recommended to enhance user satisfaction.…”

“…The stability of the Wi-Fi network and devices was a key factor affecting usage. 15,27 If a hospital conducts proactive checks rather than checks following usage issues raised by the user, the willingness of nurses to use the systems will undoubtedly be enhanced. Another problem was that the patient wristband barcode was not generated during the hospital admission process.…”

A Multidisciplinary Approach for Reducing Lost Surgical Specimens

“…Computer‐generated labels offer the advantage of reducing the risk for misspellings, illegibility, and transcription errors associated with handwritten labels . Although published literature supports the use of barcode technology as a method to eliminate specimen errors, this option is not yet universally available . The HUP laboratory computer system lacks an interface for electronic nursing documentation, which precludes implementation of barcode technology for surgical specimen labeling.…”

“…9 Although published literature supports the use of barcode technology as a method to eliminate specimen errors, this option is not yet universally available. 10 The HUP laboratory computer system lacks an interface for electronic nursing documentation, which precludes implementation of barcode technology for surgical specimen labeling. As a result, perioperative nurses must not only type the specimen description into the electronic record but also handwrite the specimen's description on both the label used on the specimen container as well as the label used in the logbook hand over to laboratory staff members.…”