While the clinical applications for thermal printers are very important, don't underestimate the value that this technology offers to non-clinical hospital functions, such as inventory management and asset tracking. Hospital inventory management is a huge challenge today. "Modern hospitals utilize a mind-boggling array of equipment and supplies from the most modern and high-tech devices like specialized stents and catheters for heart surgery, to everyday items, such as gauze bandages and protective pads. Hospitals utilize mountains of various food products to feed their patients and staff and even keep an inventory of teddy bears, balloons, and greeting cards for the gift shop," says HIMSS.
Improving your ability to manage and track the thousands of items used in your hospital adds to its bottom-line efficiency and enhances the overall quality of care for your patients. Obviously, you should barcode expensive medical and computer equipment so your hospital can keep close track of these valuable assets. Include, too, consumable medical supplies, from histology slides to IV bags to linens, in your barcode labeling program. And consider that nearly every logistical process in the hospital can be improved with barcode labeling:
- the stock room employee who selects bar-coded items requested by a particular department
- the shipping or receiving department that generates a carton or package label
- the floor nurse who conducts a supplies inventory for re-ordering
Hospital inventory management is improved greatly with barcode labeling.
To learn more about hospital inventory management, get our free ebook, Hospital Barcoding.
