Accu-Check Inform II
1 followers
0 Likes
We are having issues with our meters not scanning employee badges although they will scan patient labels. The nurse managers are concerned about patient safety/liability due to an insurance inspector recommending that it be addressed. I have reached out to Roche and they suggested that I clean and inspect the readers and then call back to get replacements. I don't think this will solve the problem. I believe it has to do with the type of barcode on the employee badges although they would scan in the past. Has anyone had similar issues?
9 Replies
Reply
Subgroup Membership is required to post Replies
Join POCT Listserv now
Suggested Posts
| Topic | Replies | Likes | Views | Participants | Last Reply |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| iSTAT in NICU -chem 8, CG4 | 4 | 0 | 117 | ||
| Rotem Sigma Validation Help | 1 | 0 | 82 | ||
| Hemochron Sig Elite use outside of manufacturer temperature range | 1 | 0 | 131 |
Our issue is with the meters not being able to scan patient wristbands. I worked with Roche and found that the quality of the wristband barcodes was being distorted by the laminated covering that caused glare and distortion. Our facility is currently looking for a new wristband vendor.
I've had it happen frequently with someone new making the badges. Did staff get new badges recently? If so check the employee barcode as you stated. Our badge barcodes here have a special character at the end that tell it to end. I compare my badge barcode and look at the employees and check the length. The missing character shortens the barcode length. If the glucometer can take a manual employee id entry and scan the patient barcode, I'd lean towards the barcode coding as you originally thought.
Hello Diana,
I have not encountered this issue with our Accu-Cheks but you may need to review your device configurations (within you interface system) to ensure that the meter will accept all 1D and 2D barcodes.
Yes. We have NOVA but same type of issue. It was not a NOVA issue but an internal IT issue. They changed the format in the barcode on the badge and it took
over a year for someone to admit there was a change and then another year to fix it. We would scan our badges with other devices to test and it would replace the first # with some character or just not scan at all. It’s finally fixed but we still have clean-up
of 2 years’ worth of badges to replace.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any attachments,
is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain
privileged and confidential information. Any unauthorized review, use,
disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended
recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy
all copies of the original message.
I have this issue with some of the older badges at my medical center. I found "cleaning the scanner window" resolved the issue also it depends on the strength of the WiFi on some of the Units and sometimes the operator had to try 2-3X before it scanned. The badges that don't scan the operator has the manually put in their ID# (this has not been an issue). In addition I have placed a sticker on all the meters that reads "SCAN YOUR ID# OR MANUALLY ENTER THE LAST 7 DIGITS OF ID#" (we use the last 7 digits of employees ID). I have recently replaced all my BASES and METERS.
Thanks for these suggestions. I will definitely look into the configuration settings and try to work (again) with someone in IT to figure it out. I did clean some of the scanner windows myself and found control material all over them but it still didn't scan when cleaned. I found one employee whose badge still scans so I'll try to compare. I went through similar issues when we implemented our i-Stats but they just decided that badges would not scan with those. Unfortunately we do not have a dedicated lab IT person so I'm not sure they understand the importance of getting this figured out since it's a liability issue and not just one of convenience.
I've had this issue as well. Turns out our new badges had a red film over the barcode to prevent staff from making extra copies. This also prevented the Accu-Chek meters from reading the barcode as well. If memory serves me - it was mainly the 14xxxxxxx series meters that were affected. HR issued new badges without the film and everything scans fine.
After trying to work with IT to find the problem with the barcodes, I decided to test the reader by scanning all of the different barcode symbologies in the operator's manual. It would scan any type of barcode so I put a piece of tape over the badge barcode and it did scan part of the time. So I think the glare from the name badges is causing them not to scan. The bigger hurdle will be getting them to do something to change them.
I don't know if it will work for your needs, but you might want to try using a free barcode generator website and then simply taping those to the badges.