While some of last week’s GS1 Healthcare Conference in Washington, D.C., was, in many respects, a compendium of earlier GS1 meetings, pretty much all of it was solid and more than worth the time to attend (or view the webcast). Of special note to me was Mark Neuenschwander’s out-standing presentation on barcode efficacy, power and importance in hospital settings. It was called “Bedside Barcode Technology To Prevent Medication Errors and Save Lives.”
Mark is the kind of keynote presenter every presenter hates to follow: entertaining, enlightening, personable, and fully engaging. That said, his presentation was a stunner. If you have ever even lightly argued against barcode use in hospitals — or, more specifically, patient settings — after seeing Mark’s presentation, you will be militant that barcode scanning *needs to be* happening in *every* patient care setting *right now*.
The examples Mark provides are compelling, clear and definitive. I thought I had some solid arguments for patient-side barcoding; Mark’s material is way beyond mine. Also, he’s got a light touch — even when the topics and consequences of what he’s describing or arguing can be devastating.
While many of the presentations — but no video yet — are available here, Mark’s is not. Hopefully it will be soon. When the video is posted, I will be providing a link to it. Mark has given us truly a must-see presentation on barcoding at the bedside.
EDIT ADD: Mark has a website at hospitalrx.com where he posts some of his very informed musings.
Filed under: Bar code, Hospital, Patient safety
