Need Opinions on Med Bar Coding Systems

[Sum77]

The hospital I work at is implementing a Med Bar Coding System and we need opinions from RNs already using Med Bar Coding.

At your hospital, do you have computers in every room? Or do you use COWs (computers on wheels)? Or handheld devices (if so, which model)?

What do you like/dislike about the system you use? Please give me the pro's/con's and things you'd like to change in order to make your system better.

Your feedback will be helpful in helping us design the best system possible for our hospital.

Thanks,

Summer, RN

[BluegrassRN]

HANDHELD!!!!!

Sorry, I've done clinicals/worked at places that had COWs and/or computers in every room, but in my opinion, handheld is the way to go!

I don't know the brand we use, but it's the same that FedEx uses.

[Love_2_Learn]

We use cows. I'd give my right eye tooth fo a hand held device!! Each patient needs their own computer for meds in my opinion. Not only for infection control but because hauling cows everywhere you go slows you down in a very major way and makes you clumsy looking. Not very professional looking!

[msjellybean]

We have computers in every room. If I had my druthers, each workstation would have a wireless scan gun.

Overall, I really like our system. My only complaint comes from sometimes the scan guns simply don't work. And it appears to be totally random. And then there are some barcodes from pharmacy that just never scan, no matter what they do. They've been trying to figure out how to get the lantus barcodes to scan properly for a couple years (has to do with the bend in the barcode, to fit it onto the syringe).

[ChristineN, BSN, RN]

We do medication bar code scanning at my hospital using the "MC-70" hand held system. I like the hand held vs having to haul a computer on wheels around with me. Also, they have some patient care charting built into the hand held so that you can scan the patient's bracelet and then chart vital signs, I&O's, etc. Really handy for charting things when you are in the room and thinking about them, instead of waiting until the last min. We also use the MC-70 for printing lab labels.

[mama_d, BSN, RN]

We have a computer in each room as well as a WOW on the floor in case there are issues.

I have to admit that I really wasn't looking forward to going over to a med scan system when we went live with computerized charting, but I quickly became a convert. There have been a couple of times that it alerted me to timing issues (especially with admin of PRNs). Overall, safer and cleaner (no more taking paper MARs into rooms and getting Lord knows what on them).

There are a few drawbacks, mainly that some meds just don't want to scan. Lovenox syringes are the worst. And our pharmacy doesn't apparently have the capability to give us a barcode on hand-mixed titratable drips, so every time I have a patient on one and do the right thing by modifying the order for a new rate, from there on out it refuses to recognize the barcode as being associated with that order...which means that doing it the correct, safest way gets you dinged on scanning compliance.

[AgentBeast, MSN, RN]

We had/have both COW and the handheld and both suck, because they are slow slow slow. Those machines are lucky I didn't fling them out the window.

[Flo., BSN, RN]

We have a computer in the room with a wireless scanner. I love the system. I would have a very hard time working for a facility that used COWs or had paper charting. I have never seen a hand held system. That would be interesting.

[StrwbryblndRN]

We have computers in each room with cordless scanners. I like them. There is probably something better out there but these work. Previously we had the cows. Very cumbersome. With the computers in the room we do not have workspace though, unlike the COWS. I end up balancing my clipboard on the trashcan or hope that the patient has a bedside table that is not used.

I would love to see a dinamap in each room too.

[sameyjaney]

I had clinical at facilities with computers in every room, one with COWs and now where I work we use the hand-held. They are my preference. The COWs are obnoxious. They would be my least favorite. The only thing about the hand helds are that sometimes it gets tedious trying to hit the spot you want to hit on the screen (kind of like using a touch-screen cell phone). Otherwise they are great. Highly recommend.

[tokmom, BSN, RN]

We have computers in every room with scanners attached to a long cable. Hand held would be nice for patients clear across the room. They ordered longer cables so that problem was solved. We have all the same programs on those computers so can chart in the rooms.

Cons: Can be slower. Some meds just refuse to scan. Seems like insulin is a culprit everywhere.

Our med error rate is ZERO. How cool is that? Worth all the hassles.

[Sum77]

Thanks for the feedback! Keep it coming. We have heard that sometimes the handhelds don't communicate well with other computer systems and there can be trouble with uploading data. Anyone experienced this?