Precision and accuracy are expectations in the healthcare industry—the wrong information can change the outcome of a research study, a diagnosis, and potentially someone’s life. This is why barcode integrity is critical to your processes.
Duplicate and no-read barcodes can be eliminated with a thorough sequence management strategy in place—one of the best ways to do this is by taking advantage of services offered by your barcode supplier.
What are sequence management services?
Sequence management is a system put in place to detect and eliminate any duplicate or faulty barcodes before they reach your lab or any critical process points.
Sequence management services are software systems designed to ensure no duplicate barcode identification numbers are ever printed by keeping track of all past orders and sequence numbers.
While it’s possible to put a sequence management system in place within your facility, choosing to work with a supplier who can prevent duplicate labels from ever reaching your lab can offer you both peace of mind and more time to focus on tasks that align with your goals.
What issues does sequence management address?
Sequence management in research & diagnostic laboratories
One example of an area where sequence management is highly important is in both research and diagnostic laboratories.
If a duplicate barcode label were placed on a sample, it immediately loses all integrity. It could end up being stored incorrectly, sent to the wrong place, or lead to incorrect test results. When patients are waiting on critical information, or the public is in need of a crucial treatment, inaccuracy is inexcusable.
Sequence management in transfusion medicine
Another example of where sequence management plays a crucial role in healthcare is in the transfusion medicine industry.
If a label were to be duplicated it could result in blood traveling to the wrong place, wrong patient, etc., which is unacceptable. Donated blood must be precisely and accurately tracked to ensure it can be safely utilized when needed.
If a blood bag loses its identifier, it loses the ability to be traced back to the information necessary to ensure its safety and essentially becomes a wasted donation.
With a sequence management system, barcode sequences are traceable by part number, individual organization, or processing center in cases of multiple locations. If a center has multiple locations, Computype’s software has the ability to group all locations together and track the sequences to ensure no duplicates are printed.
What do sequence management services look like in practice?
In most industries, it is extremely important to prioritize the significance of accurate barcode sequence management—especially in healthcare. This is why many labeling companies will develop a proprietary system to prevent unsuitable barcodes from ever reaching your facility.
At Computype, our Sequence Management Service begins by storing all of your sequence information in our proprietary database to allow for the tracking of sequential numbers printed on labels. This way we can ensure you never receive a repeat code.
We also utilize our proprietary vision system to identify any unsuitable labels, so corrections can be made before your order is shipped.
Our sequence management services are applied to all pre-printed label orders—including our pre-barcoded labware offerings.
Here at Computype, we are proud to be a provider of this service offering and ensure our customers can safely and accurately track assets of value through the utilization of barcodes.
