How barcode technology could revolutionise how hospitals treat the sick

Who would have thought barcode technology could potentially help transform patient care.

New electronic wristbands that monitor vital information, including blood pressure and heart rates, are being trialed at Sydney’s Concord Hospital in an effort to take much of the human error out of care.

The information is collected and then transmitted via WiFi to a mobile workstation.

“We've been running it here for a month now in terms of being it a live system on real patients - and so far it's been going very well,” Concord Hospital’s Dr Richard Paoloni said.

Nurses have also begun to use a new electronic medication recording device, which checks doses, potential allergic reactions and other important information.

Across NSW public hospitals, more than 23,000 incidents are recorded each year, including medication errors that see patients given the wrong dosage or at the wrong time and even cases of nurses being unable to read a doctor’s handwriting.

The medications most frequently involved in serious incidents are opioids, such as Codeine and Morphine, and anti-clotting drugs such as Warfarin.

NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner said moving to an electronic system over paper charts could lead to dramatically better care.

“This is the beginning of a system that will revolutionise the safety and the quality for what we do for our patients in the hospital system,” she said.