Bar-coding

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) implemented a final rule in April 2004 requiring bar coding on certain products administered to patient in hospitals in an effort to reduce medication errors. This rule applies to manufacturers, repackers, relablers, and private label distributors of the following products  

Prescription drugs, except physician drug samples, allergenic extracts, intrauterine devices, medical gases, radiopharmaceuticals, low density form fill, and seal containers that are not packaged with an over wrap 

Over-the-counter products dispensed pursuant to an order and that are commonly used in hospitals 

At a minimum, the bar code must contain the drug product s National Drug Code (NDC) number in a linear bar code. The bar coding should be used on drugs down to unit-of-use package size. The lot number and expiration date are not required. The manufacturer may include if they so desire. 

Before administering a drug product, the bar code on the patient s identification bracelet is scanned and the bar code on the medication is scanned. The computer/personal digital assistant [PDA] checks the medication against the patient s medical record to see if administration of the drug was ordered. If the scan 

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Synthetic gemstone materials often have multiple uses. Synthetic mby and colodess sapphire are used for watch bearings, unscratchable watch crystals, and bar-code reader windows. Synthetic quartz oscillators are used for precision time-keeping, citizen s band radio (CB) crystals, and filters. Synthetic mby, emerald, and garnets are used for masers and lasers (qv). 

Sample number generation Bar-code label generation Sample log-in... 

Consumer Products. Laser-based products have emerged from the laboratories and become familiar products used by many millions of people in everyday circumstances. Examples include the supermarket scaimer, the laser printer, and the compact disk. The supermarket scanner has become a familiar fixture at the point of sale in stores. The beam from a laser is scaimed across the bar-code marking that identifies a product, and the pattern of varying reflected light intensity is detected and interpreted by a computer to identify the product. Then the information is printed on the sales sHp. The use of the scanner can speed checkout from places like supermarkets. The scanners have usually been helium—neon lasers, but visible semiconductor lasers may take an impact in this appHcation. 

Samples logged into the system are assigned a unique number which is often physically attached to the sample using a bar-code label. The testing protocol is contained in the LIMS and is based on the point in the process from which the sample was taken. This information and the identification of the type of sample enable the LIMS to schedule the testing of the material. 

The relevance of photonics technology is best measured by its omnipresence. Semiconductor lasers, for example, are found in compact disk players, CD-ROM drives, and bar code scaimers, as well as in data communication systems such as telephone systems. Compound semiconductor-based LEDs utilized in multicolor displays, automobile indicators, and most recendy in traffic lights represent an even bigger market, with approximately 1 biUion in aimual sales. The trend to faster and smaller systems with lower power requirements and lower loss has led toward the development of optical communication and computing systems and thus rapid technological advancement in photonics systems is expected for the future. In this section, compound semiconductor photonics technology is reviewed with a focus on three primary photonic devices LEDs, laser diodes, and detectors. Overviews of other important compound semiconductor-based photonic devices can be found in References 75—78. 

Fig. 4. Schematic of the Closed Container Sampling technique used in the Baxter PARAMAX analy2er showing (a) the collection tube with bar-coded label being brought into sampling position under the caimula (b) the tube raised so that the caimula has penetrated the stopper (c) the sample sensing probe coming through the caimula to aspirate the exact volume required for each assay and (d) after sampling, where the tube is lowered away from the cannula.

A spinoff from the UPC bar code is the European Article Numbering (EAN) bar code system. EAN numbers are based on the UPC bar code guidelines. For distribution outside North America, these bar codes are unique and different in the number of characters per code and the computer data base related to each code. 

The Interleaved 2-of-5 bar code is a bidirectional, continuous, selfchecking numeric bar code. It uses a series of wide and narrow bars or spaces to represent each character, and each symbol employs unique Start and Stop elements. 

Code 128 allows the user to encode any character found on a CRT keyboard, including the control characters. This gives the user more encoding versatility than previously possible in an industrial bar code. 

The 3 of 9 bar code is a variable-length, bidirectional, discrete, selfchecking, alphanumeric bar code. Its data character set contains 43 characters 0-9, A—Z, -,., , /, -i-, %, and space. Three of the nine elements are wide and six are narrow. A common character ( ) is used exclusively for both a Start and Stop character. The Start/Stop characters must be included in every bar code. It s the Start/Stop pattern that allows symbols to be scanned bidirectionally. 

Being one of the first two-dimensional bar codes, the symbology has not yet been standardized by any iudustiy. However, it is being considered for coding shipping manifest information. 

Each PDF417 bar code also incorporates two parity-check codewords, which 2LCt as the symbol s error-correction code. The codewords carry out the same functions as check digits in other bar codes. 

PDF417 is able to condense so much information into such a small space that it could soon prove to be one of the most flexible bar code symbologies around. 

Where products are sold at retail to consumers it is necessary to have a Universal Product Code (UPC) printed on its label. The Universal Product Codes are assigned by the Uniform Code Counsel, 8163 Old Yankee Road, Suite J, Dayton, Ohio 45458. With the bar coding system, the information which is most meaningful to its user can be represented. This can include numeric and alpha (word) representations. 

FIG. 21-50 Bar code designs. Coutiesy ofWeher Marking Systems, Inc. )... 

Bar-code readers (like those in grocery stores) are to identify equipment in a plant. Suggest a way that this may be used to check the temperature, acid type and quantity, and aluminum quantity for acid dissolution of aluminum. 

Answer An electronic temperature monitor could be equipped with a bar-code liquid crystal display which could be read by a portable bar-code reader. These devices have a memory so several readings may be taken before they are readout over a telephone modem to a data logging computer. The simplest way to read the acid type would be to post a label that is bar-coded to indicate the acid type. Tire acid quantity could be indicated by an acid level gage using a bar-code display of the level. The aluminum quality could be indicated by displaying a label in bar-code. The amount of aluminum could be determined by weight using a bar-code readout on the scales. 

Laser printers, bar code readers, unmanned freeway tollbooths, laser pointers—none of these very common devices would be possible ivithout laser technology. This is just a minor sampling the list of laser applications goes on and on. 

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