Barcode Your QI Part 2
A barcode is data that can be read by an optical scanner. A laboratory instrument, for example, may read a specimen label barcode to query a host computer for patient demographics and test information. The point is twofold: you don't have to, and the scanner gets it right every time. Right away you're saving work and making fewer errors.
To create a real-time documentation system for quality improvement we used discontinued handheld scanners, but any will do. These attach to a keyboard (PS2) port or USB (Universal Serial Bus) port. It's a matter of plugging in a cord or two. The scanner reads a barcode and sends the data to your computer like any other input device. Example: if the barcode on a specimen is account number 12345, the scanner optically reads 12345 and sends it to the active program just as though you had typed it yourself on the keyboard.
The hard part is deciding which program gets the data. But I made this easy with a five-line DOS (Disk Operating System, pronounced "doss") batch file. A batch file is a list of commands run one at a time, often behind the GUI (graphical user interface, pronounced "gooey") of Microsoft Windows. They can run programs, read and write files, and even do simple calculations. Best of all, you don't have to be a programmer to create one. Anyway:
@ECHO OFF
:LOOP
SET /P ACCT=WAND TUBE
ECHO %ACCT% %DATE% %TIME% >> SCANNED.LOG
GOTO LOOP
Cut and paste or type this into Notepad and save as SCANNED.BAT (be sure to select Save as type "All Files" or it will have a .TXT extension). Run it by double-clicking the file icon, and you'll be ready to scan barcodes into the file SCANNED.LOG. Next, I'll explain how this works and how to improve it.