Have any of you any suggestions for manufacturers of bar code labelling systems for medical equipment? Initially I'm looking at labelling our equipment library stock, with a view to re-labelling all the medical asset database. Has anyone any suggestions for systems I should look at and those I should avoid? I'm obviously after a durable label that can be customised with the hospital logo. Any suggestions?

please email: richard.aldridge@chelwest.nhs.uk
Cheers

Have a look at this website. We use the P-touch 9500 to produce our barcoded labels and customisation is easy!

http://www.brother-store.co.uk/index.php/cPath/4?aid=gbsptm&gclid=CKCViL_buooCFTlhMAodCEGdOQ

We use Kroy label printers. They are fully cusomiseable(?), you can design your label in Word or use a range of programs that come with the printer to allow consecutive numbers, dates, barcodes etc. The main downside is that the labels are easily damaged, we protect ours with transparent covers, a bit fiddly to put on but you get used to it.

There are two options for durable lables,Pre-printed polypropylene labels (so you have your logo pre printer)or Pre-printed metalised polyester labels but then you have to consider Direct Thermal printeing or Thermal Transfer.These type of lables are used for serial number lables on equipment so should pass a rub test.
If you take a look at www.barcode.co.uk it has a full range of printers, media and full systems.

I used to work in this field, they are begging for bussiness.

I have been using the Brother P-Touch series of label printers for 12 years.

I produce custom labels of varying sizes and colours, with and without barcodes.

Each label is printed and laminated before it is ejected from the printer. The result is a self adhesive label which, once bonded to the surface, can be cleaned with most solvents and , will generally stay in place for the life of the equipment.

Obviously surface preparation is important and I have also found that rounding off the corners with scissors before application helps to prevent lifting and curling from the edges.

Again the Brother P Touch 220 is a small hand held device or even the 540 is a desk top device. Simple to use with a variety of pretty coloured labels if required.

I use labels in various sizes supplied by Kelgray Products. We use a TEC printer and Enlabel software. Labels are in Metalised Polyester Void and vary in size from 38 x 18 to 70 x 45 mm

We use the brother printer also - very professional looking labels and works well when you use a Spreadsheet/database to churn off a large number of labels.

We also use a brother printer for our barcode labels. We did used to have the Printronix but found it to be a bit of a pain at times and the quality was not always the best.

We use the Brother P touch software to re-print, we share a Zebra label printer with another hospital to print "originals" in batches.

Like your style dunk - interesting marketing ploy..

We use Bartender Software printing to Zebra printers, the 3d barcode and readable number lables are then attached to our MEMS labels which in turn are sealed with the clear window.

We also use a Brother P-Touch series for our labels.

Is there any specific barcode protocol in use?

Ah yes, barcodes (more interesting stuff)!

Our P-Touch 2100 boasts of nine barcode protocols:-

1) Code 39
2) Code 128
3) EAN-8
4) EAN-13
5) EAN-128
6) UPC-A
7) UPC-E
8) I-2/5
9) Codabar

... I also would be interested to hear which format is the one in popular usage!

We use the Dymo labelwriter 400 series with Dymo software. Nice and compact and you can import a series of info from excel if you want to print continuous labels. The software allows import of images for logo design etc

We use metalised polyester for the barcode and inv nr and standard thermal paper for the service dates and details.

The standard thermal paper fades after approximately 1 year which is a good service indicator

I'm glad Jandre has mentioned the Dymo. I've no idea how it comforms to medical requirements, but I used to work for an aviation supply company where we used the Dymo 400 system. It's very flexible offering label sizes from around 15mm x 45mm all the way up to something like 60mm x 110mm, possibly larger.

Can vouch for the above 1 year fade.

The logo studio for the Dymo system is intuitive, and produces good results.

Commercial printer can print you off reels of sequential numbers with bar codes. These are usually more durable than Dymo/Brother labels and can have more information such as contact phone numbers in a neat small space. I used to use Sessions of York but these are others available. The good thing about having the labels preprinted is that you only have one label of each number so you cannot accidentally get duplicate numbers. The down side is that if someone picks off the label (Bored anaesthetists seem to be the worst culprits) or the case is replaced you have to change the asset number of the item.
RoJo

Assuming that we are talking about equipment "asset labeling" here, I’m wondering what actual use is made of the coded labels?

At least one hospital I know has bar codes alongside the "human readable" number on their asset labels, but (as far as I am aware) do not make any use of them at all.

By the way those same guys have all the clever stuff available to them (eg, bar-code wand on the electrical safety tester), but it all seems to have fallen into disuse (once the novelty had worn off, I guess).

Meanwhile, I have found bar-coding to be very useful and efficient in fast-moving retail operations (you know, Morrisons, Tesco et al) and for processing and tracking parcels in transit (eg, by "couriers").

As a secondary to this thread does anyone know of a free or low cost Bar code scanning tracking software.

Cheers Billy

Billy and Geoff,
We used bar code labels in the equipment library it made booking equipment out quick and stopped typos. The equipment asset label had a bar code and we had a list of all the wards with appropriate bar code printed beside them.
The equipment was a scanner which went between the keyboard and PC so you did not need any specialist software, it just imitated the information being typed in. As this was quite a while ago the equipment will be obsolete by now but the idea might not be.
RoJo

Good answer, Robert. An appropriate use of barcodes, then. And one that actually solved a problem!

There's lots of barcode related stuff on eBay, of course. Including a couple of the type you mention (with PS/2 connectors). But it looks like most of the hand-held scanners use USB these days.

That is exactly what we want to do book it out to a place and book it back. Will look into a scanner and see what software it comes with.

Cheers

Good news! I won a couple of these off eBay for £ 11 the pair, and one of them works* just as you describe, Robert. It uses PS/2 male and female connections (plus a "little box") that connect between the keyboard and the PC, as you mention. There is a DC input socket on the box, but the thing seems to work OK without any power other than what it filches from the PC PS/2 connector (5 VDC between pins 3 and 4, of course).

There's a button on the scanner handle to flash the barcode. The thing bleeps as it recognises the barcode, and plonks (yes, a good technical term, that) the code in normal ASCII characters wherever on the screen your keyboard cursor happens to be patiently waiting (eg, in a NotePad text file, database field, spreadsheet cell, DOS command line ... wherever). Or even right here (look):-

0106945764400014

(although that was seen as a "download" for some reason ... interesting)

Brilliant! And no need for software (Billy) ... just an initial re-boot.

OK, now I'm looking forward to hours of fun, Mate ... you know, looking out for all the various barcode types to try (and, er, collect)!

* The other may need a bit of coaxing into life!