title: Designing and implementing a bar code system.
abstract: Used as part of a comprehensive materials management system, bar coding can help: reduce inventory, operating costs, space requirements, and loss due to pilferage and damage; increase productivity, stock rotation, and patient charge capture; improve material throughput, handling efficiencies, and audit-trail accuracy; and generate more accurate and meaningful management data. But the decision to bar code should come only after an extensive evaluation of off-setting costs and benefits, organizational needs, potential applications, and a thorough review of available hardware and software packages. The focus of this, the first of a two-part article on the design and implementation of an automatic identification system, will center on bar code use for SPD inventory, patient charges, linen supply system, and capital asset management.
mesh_terms: D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D001330:Electronic Data Processing / Q000379:methods*; D005249:Fees and Charges; D007445:Inventories, Hospital / Q000379:methods*; D008421:Materials Management, Hospital / Q000379:methods*; D014481:United States