Barcode Symbology Research Articles

Utilization of 2D Barcode Technology to Create Surgical Pathology Reports

Abstract Introduction/Objective After professional transcription service is eliminated, pathologists inevitably undertake the task of diagnostic data entry into pathology repot by adapting a variety of methods such as speech recognition, manual typing, and pre-texted command. Errors and inefficiency in reporting remain common problems, especially for information with unusual syntax such as genotype or nucleotide sequences. To overcome these shortcomings, we introduce here a novel application of a well-established technology as a complementary method, namely 2- dimensional (2D) barcode symbology. Methods/Case Report Commonly used diagnostic wordings of pathology reports including specimen type, surgical procedure, diagnosis, and test results are collated and organized by organ (specimen type) and by their frequency of usage/occurrence. Next, 2D data matrix barcodes are created for these diagnostic wordings using a on-line tool (www.free-barcode-generator.net/datamatrix/). The 2D barcodes along with their text are displayed on the computer screen (or printed out as a booklet). A 2D barcode scanner (Symbol LS2208, Motorola) was used to retrieve the text information from the barcodes and transfer into the pathology report. To assess the efficacy of this barcode method, we evaluated the time of data entry into reports for 117 routine cases using an on-line stopwatch and compared with those by other data entry methods. Results (if a Case Study enter NA) Unlike manual typing or speech recognition, the barcode method did not introduce typographic or phonosemantic errors since the method simply transferred pre-texted and proof-read text content to report. It was also faster than manual typing or speech recognition, and its speed was comparable to that of the pre-text method integrated in LIS but did not require human memorization of innumerable text commands to retrieve desired diagnosis wordings. Conclusion Our preliminary results demonstrated that the diagnostic data entry time was reduced from 28.5% by other methods to 22.1% by the barcode method although due to the small sample size, statistical analysis was not conclusive.

DotCode Damage Testing

The DotCode bar code symbology is relatively new, having been developed by Dr. Andrew Longacre in 2007. As a result of standards organization work being done on the symbology, it was determined that valid encoding patterns could result in symbols that could not be decoded by the current reference decode algorithm. A solution for resolving the issue involved the introduction of intentional errors that rely on the correct functioning of the Reed-Solomon Error Correction (RSEC) to resolve the original message. However, the actual impacts of such a decision were publicly unknown. This paper has undertaken the task of validating the impacts of intentionally adding additional data bits to the bar code, resulting in the generation of errors in what should otherwise be perfect symbols.

Point-of-Care Testing, Partnerships, and Patient Identification

Improving patient identification for bedside glucose testing requires collaboration with nursing, patient safety, information technology, and vendor partners. Tracking errors and reporting Six Sigma measurements in defects per million highlighted that further error reduction was desired. Rounding on nursing units to observe testing and surveying staff helped to identify barriers and workarounds. Implementing process changes across multiple hospitals in a large health care system requires teamwork, consultation with many stakeholder groups, collaboration, and synchronization when implementing changes for a smooth transition between old and new processes. Improvements including new wristbands, better bar-code symbology, a required leading digit in the linear bar code, and moving to "scan-only" led to a significant reduction of identification errors for bedside glucose.

2차원 바코드와 UCC/EAN-128을 이용한 생물자원 자동인식시스템

ABSTRACT As rapid development of computing environment, field of automatic identification research which interoperates with various physical objects and digital information is making active progress. Although the automatic identification system is widely used in various industries, application of automatic identification system in the field of medical health doesn't reach other industry.Therefore research in medical health supplies such as medical equipment, blood, human tissues and etc is on progress. This paper suggests the application of automatic identification technology for biological resources which is core research material in human genome research. First of all, user environment requirements for the introduction of automatic identification technology are defined and through the experiments and research, barcode is selected as a suitable tag interface. Data Matrix which is 2D barcode symbology is chosen and data schema is designed based on UCC/EAN-128 for international defecto standard. To showapplicability of proposed method when applied to actual environment, we developed, tested and evaluated application as following methods. Experiments of barcode read time at 196 and 75 below zero which is actual temperature where biological resources are preserved resulted read speed of average of 1.6 second and the data schema satisfies requirements for the biological resources application. Therefore suggested method can provide data reliability as well as rapid input of data in biological resources information processing. Keywords:Biological Resources, Bar Code, Data Carrier, Automatic Identification

Implementation of ISBT 128, a quality system, a standardized bar code labeling of blood products worldwide, electronic transfusion pathway: four years of experience in Norway

In today's world of multinational disaster relief programs, blood collected and processed in one country may be used in another. A great deal of important information is carried by a blood product label. Given the concerns about safety and traceability, it is important to use globally unique blood product coding and labeling system. In 1994 the International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT) gave a group, ICCBBA (formerly called International Council for Commonality in Blood Banking Automation), the responsibility for implementing a new, safe international system for coding and labeling blood products. This new system is based on 128 bar code symbology and is called ISBT 128. This study describes how ISBT 128 was implemented in blood banks in Norway. As soon as a couple of the most central blood banks implemented the system and started to use it in 2001, they found that it was much easier to handle than their old systems. There were two different software systems being used that were ISBT 128-compliant. The facilities started to export and import blood products to each other. The "foreign" blood products were easily scanned into "own" inventory. They were reluctant to order blood products from blood banks not using ISBT 128. Because of the success in the Department of Immunology and Transfusion Medicine at the University Hospital of Akershus and some other blood banks in Norway, the Norwegian Health Authorities advised all the blood banks to implement ISBT 128. The use of ISBT 128 has been a success from the very beginning.

Artificial Neural Network Approach to Data Matrix Laser Direct Part Marking

Certain applications have recently appeared in industry where a traditional bar code printed on a label will not survive because the item to be tracked has to be exposed to harsh environments. Laser direct-part marking is a manufacturing process used to create permanent marks on a substrate that could help to alleviate this problem. In this research, artificial neural networks were employed to model the laser direct-part marking process of Data Matrix symbols on carbon steel substrates. Several experiments were conducted to study the laser direct-part marking process and to generate data to serve as training, validation and testing data sets in the artificial neural networks modeling process. Two performance measures, mean squared error and correlation coefficient, were utilized to assess the performance of the artificial neural network models. Single-output artificial neural network models corresponding to four performance measures specific to the Data Matrix bar code symbology were found to have good learning and predicting capabilities. The single-output artificial neural network models were compared to equivalent multiple linear regression models for validation purposes. The prediction capability of the single-output artificial neural network models with respect to laser direct-part marking of Data Matrix symbols on carbon steel substrates was superior to that of the multiple linear regression models.

ISBT Code 128 implementation at a regional blood center

Application specifications for ISBT 128 bar code symbology and the International Council for Commonality in Blood Bank Automation (ICCBBA) were created in 1994. By June 2000, the FDA considered ISBT 128 a standard for uniform labeling of blood and blood components. Our blood center initiated a change process for ISBT 128 implementation and "went live" in 2003. The intention to adopt ISBT 128 symbology with hospitals was actively communicated in October 2001. A Codabar-ISBT label cross-reference book was developed, FDA approval for the fullface label format in April 2002 was requested, and FDA approval was received in March 2003. In December 2002, donor identification labels and number sets were ordered, and an integration test plan was subsequently developed with departmental process flowcharts for each of the nine affected departments. Each step was tested, the labeling changes were approved in May 2003, training was completed in June 2003, and ISBT bar code symbology was implemented on July 1, 2003. A written survey was sent to hospital transfusion services in April 2004. Implementation went smoothly except for an unanticipated high rate of "no-reads" on some analyzers in the testing lab. The hospitals spent an average of 18 hours preparing for changes, 14 hours on validation, 4 hours on documentation and procedure development, and 8 hours on training. ISBT bar code symbology was successfully implemented. Hospital transfusion services made some adjustments and, overall, readily accepted the new bar code symbology.

Embedding biometric identifiers in 2D barcodes for improved security

Two-dimensional (2D) barcode symbology is an emerging technology used for compactly storing and retrieving information. These barcodes can be found on the back of drivers' licenses and are encoded with secure text data. Standard 2D barcode such as PDF417 uses upper and lowercase alphabets, numeric digits and special characters for encoding. Some barcodes also include a compressed photo of the individual. The visual quality of the compressed image is usually poor and occupies a large amount of space which greatly reduces the capacity needed for encoding text. This paper presents a novel approach for embedding uncompressed images in a standard PDF417 2D barcode using a blind digital watermarking technique. The text is encoded in the standard PDF417 format with error correction, while the face and fingerprint images are watermarked in the encoded 2D barcode. Experimental results show that the proposed technique effectively increased the standard capacity of the PDF417 2D barcode without altering the contents of the encoded data. The results also show that the visual quality of the extracted photo image is high. The extracted fingerprint image when compared with the original fingerprint using an AFIS system yielded a high matching score.

Sources of Barcode Scanner Failure on POCT Devices

Abstract Barcodes offer a means of reducing identification errors from manual data entry. However, during implementation of barcodes in our intensive care unit, staff continued to use manual data entry due to the failure of the scanners to read the barcoded operator identification (ID) and patient bands on the first attempt. This study investigated the sources of barcode scanner failure. Two point-of-care testing (POCT) devices were examined: the i-Stat1 (East Windsor, NJ) and the Abbott PCx glucose meter (Bedford, MA). Patient bands and operator IDs used the interleaved 2 of 5 barcode symbology. For this trial, patient bands were placed on a staff member and his teenage daughter for 11 days (ankle and wrist) and 9 days (ankle) respectively (about twice the average institutional length of patient stay [4.9 days]). These bands were worn during normal activity, exercise, and showers. The i-Stat1 was less successful at scanning the 3 bands (9.1–47.5% failure rate, n = 22–71 attempts) than the PCx meter (2.9–30.8% failure rate, n = 20–68 attempts; n = 4 operators), although this difference was only significant for 1 of the ankle bands between devices (P = 0.03) and for scanning the operator ID between operators (P = 0.04). To determine device differences better, the worn bands were compared with new bands at various distances, angles, lighting, and barcode orientations. Staff were significantly more successful at scanning the new bands and ID badges when compared with worn bands on both devices (P

A blood center communication plan and guideline for assisting hospitals with the implementation of the new international uniform bar code-labeling standard.

Transition to the International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT) bar code-labeling standard known as ISBT 128 is scheduled to begin July 1, 1997. Blood centers play a pivotal role in educating and assisting hospitals with the implementation of the new standard. A communication plan and hospital guidelines to facilitate the actual transition to ISBT 128 are integral parts of a blood center's comprehensive implementation strategy. In Phase 1, the blood center identified specific target groups within the hospitals and developed educational materials for them. A survey tool was used to identify unique hospital needs. Subsequent blood center newsletters and customer service forums included ISBT 128 updates. In Phase 2, guidelines to assist hospitals with the identification of critical elements, milestones, and target dates for the transition were developed with hospital staff input. Survey results on the change to ISBT 128 showed that many hospitals were unfamiliar with this change and its effects on operational issues. Various forums to disseminate information about ISBT 128 are needed to provide education and assistance to diverse groups within the hospital. A partnership approach between hospitals and the regional blood center should promote a successful transition from the current bar code symbology, American Blood Commission Codabar, to ISBT 128.

The evolution of the PDF417 communications medium

Covers the development of the PDF417 barcode symbology, describing the evolution of the linear bar code and why PDF – the portable data file – was developed. Examples are given of PDF417 being used. Techniques including error correction, algorithms and scanning are described.

二次元バ一コードを利用した散剤自動監査システム

We have developed a new checking system for dispensing of powder drugs employing two--dimensional barcode symbology (2D-barcode). The 2D-barcode has high density and high capacity of encoding over kilobyte of data per label. This capability is superior to the commercially based system using a linear barcode at the followings:(1) The 2D-barcode can hold all of the necessary dispensing data; drug name, generic name, usual dosage and usual prescribing limits.(2) No database files are required for necessary item data which can be carried on the 2D-barcode.(3) The 2D-barcode is an error-correcting symbology designed for the hospital applications where portions of labels can make handling useless. It performs error corrections by making cal culations, if necessary, to reconstruct undecoded or corrup ted portions of the symbol.

Use of a Bar Code Symbology to Produce Multiple Thermally Induced Otolith Marks

From 1987 to 1993, the Washington Department of Fisheries mass-marked over 35 million juvenile salmonids by inducing unique banding patterns into their otoliths by means of short-term water temperature changes during incubation. All five species of Pacific salmon Oncorhynchus spp. were successfully marked, and several broods of returning adults have demonstrated the persistence of these marks for at least 5 years. Using systematic rules developed in the bar code industry and a marking pattern of six bands and five spaces, we created a method for producing up to 10 different bar codes for marking the otoliths of incubating salmonids. Multiple groups (N) of six bands can produce 10N different codes. Ten unique patterns were decoded, both visually and with the aid of a computerized image-analysis system combined with a decoding algorithm. Repeated blind tests showed that pattern recognition was virtually error free with both methods. Because the symbology is based upon the relative spacing of bands, the pattern can be discerned along any clear otolith axis; a consistent otolith measurement axis or section plane is not required. As a result, relatively gross, rapid otolith preparation procedures were adequate for accurate pattern recognition. Although the decoding algorithm may result in a failure to decode, the likelihood of misclassifications is small due to restrictive rules in the bar code symbology. Many research and management applications of thermal mass-marking require the use of a number of unique patterns. This bar code method provides a simple means of organizing information so that multiple unique patterns are easily distinguished. Although demonstrated on chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, this method is applicable to any species for which thermal marking of otoliths is appropriate.

The SISAC test report: Results, recommendations, what's next

In May 1986, the Serials Industry Systems Advisory Committee (SISAC) initiated a six-month market test project to evaluate the usability, strengths, and weaknesses of a proposed serial issue identifier and its bar code symbology, using code 128, which converts the serial issue identifier (SIID) into a machine-scannable format. A small group of test participants, including publishers, librarians, and vendors, sought to assess the voluntary SISAC code for readability, functionality, and flexibility. Highlights of the SISAC Test Report, issued in January 1987, are presented here.