As part of the Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford Hospital & Clinics isknown worldwide for its advanced patient care and cutting edge innovations.When it comes to historic firsts, Stanford leads the way. For example, Stanfordperformed the first successful adult human heart transplant in the country and

the first combined heart-lung transplant in the world.

Setting the standard for state-of-the-art patient care, Stanford remains on the cutting edgeof new technology. An example is illustrated by the facility's use of PDC's CompuBand®

Bar Code Identification System, which has helped healthcare personnel to preventprocessing errors, dramatically reduce time, and streamline processes throughautomation.

TThhee CChhaalllleennggeeStanford Hospital & Clinics installed laboratory glucose meters in their clinical laboratory in2001. Nursing staff manually entered patient medical record numbers to the devices, whichresulted in transposition errors. The data errors caused lab staff to spend up to two hours aday correcting mistakes while nurses spent up to five hours a week fixing problems,according to Connie Taylor, Patient Care Policy and Procedures Coordinator at StanfordHospital.

The implementation problems were understandable upon examination. "It's a human errorthing," explained Taylor. "When people are working fast, it's like typing without auto-correct. It's very difficult. We had to fix the system first."

TThhee SSoolluuttiioonnTo solve the problem, Stanford sought to automate how medical records numbers wereentered into their test devices and then transmitted to the clinical laboratory. Stanford chosePDC's CompuBand® Bar Code Wristband System to provide the automated link betweenmedical device and information system. The system proved immediately successful.

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With the new technology in place, patientsadmitted to the hospital receive a PDCCompuBand containing his or her medicalrecord number. The code is thenelectronically conveyed to various devices,such as glucometers, to link test resultsdirectly back to the patient. Upon scanning,data is automatically downloaded to theclinical laboratory, where it is joined toother test results in the patient's medicalrecord. The wristband helps eliminate thepossibility of human error in enteringmedical record data and ensures moreaccurate patient information.

Nursing staff members were trained in theoperations of hand held glucose meterswith a bar code scanner. Data was thendownloaded at a docking station where itwas transmitted to the Clinical Laboratory.Transposition errors that were oncecommon with manual data entry were now eliminated.

Taylor further explained, "It was a prettyexciting project, one that nurses sawbenefit from and they embraced. It madetheir jobs easier because it's a lot less workto scan a bar code than to enter informationmanually. This change has been perceivedas being very positive."

The project to adopt PDC's Bar CodeWristband System involved not only theClinical Laboratory, but also Nursing,Patient Admitting Services, MedicalRecords, IT and Materials Management. Allpatients in Inpatient Nursing Units, theEmergency Department, Same-Day Surgery,the Ambulatory Treatment Unit, and the

Cath/Angio Lab have also received thewristbands upon admission. The LucilePackard Children's Hospital, an adjacentStanford facility, also followed suit with itsintroduction of PDC CompuBand wristbands

OOtthheerr UUsseessSandra Trotter, Quality Manager for theClinical Laboratories at Stanford Hospital &Clinics and Lucile Packard Children'sHospital, said the wristbands also workwith the i-Stat 1, a portable device thatanalyzes blood chemistry. The i-Stat 1 wasdesigned for use in space by NASA(National Aeronautics and SpaceAdministration) astronauts.

Describing the multi-step process, Trotterexplained, "for a blood-gas test, you wouldtypically draw blood from an artery, pull itout with a syringe, cap the syringe, label it,put it in a bag of ice, put the order in thecomputer, take the sample to the lab, mixthe sample, warm it a little, put it into areader and read it out.”

Prior to the i-Stat 1, the time from thephysician's order to the result was 30-45minutes. Today, it takes two minutes todecide whether to get a patient up to theICC or surgery," Taylor added.

BBeenneeffiittss aarree HHoossppiittaall WWiiddeeThe new system is viewed as a hospitalwide benefit rather than merely adepartmental improvement, explainsCharles Dibble, Assistant Director of PatientServices at Stanford Hospital."It can be a safety issue for results to becorrectly matched to patients. It can also

be a financial issue for getting the chargecorrectly matched to the patient who'sreceiving the service," he said.

Dibble also foresees tremendous potential fornew technology as it becomes more widelyused. "It's going to be an expanding processas more departments look at and purchaseequipment with bar bode reading capabilities.Right now, it's the Lab—it can be MaterialManagement or it could be the Pharmacy,EKG, Radiology. It's almost endless."

SSttaannffoorrdd HHoossppiittaall &&CClliinniiccssStanford Hospital &Clinics is knownworldwide for its advanced patient care,particularly for the treatment of rare,complex disorders. In recognition of itsexcellent care, the hospital and physiciansconsistently rank among the top in thenation in surveys by consumers andhealthcare professionals. In July, 2003,Stanford was again named to the HonorRoll of America's Best Hospitals by U.S.News & World Report.

Lucile Packard Children's Hospital is aninternationally recognized pediatric andobstetric healthcare organization dedicatedto excellence in patient care, education andresearch. The hospital was speciallydesigned to accelerate the healing processand features unique amenities including 27gardens, a spacious roof garden andoutdoor play area. Originally a separateentity, it merged with Stanford HealthServices in 1997.

“[CompuBand] made their jobs easier becauseit's a lot less work to scan a bar code than toenter information manually. This change has

been perceived as being very positive.”

—Connie TaylorPatient Care Policy and Procedures Coordinator

at Stanford Hospital

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