Use of Quick Response Codes in Health Care - Essay Example

? Use of Quick Response s in Health Care; we can but should we? Introduction To improve services and streamline operations in the most cost effective way, healthcare providers are increasingly embracing technology. Currently, QR codes are part of the new technologies being sought after for adoption in healthcare as a means of improving the reliability of services provided and saving on the time spent while attending to patients. QR technology is a smartphone enabled technology that uses smartphone applications to smart scan quick response (QR) codes of any range. However, concerns raised about the reliability of the use of QR codes by the public have questioned the credibility as to whether its main purpose is providing information about a patient during emergency cases or whether it is a government plan of gaining private information about its citizens (Samwald & Adlassnig, 2013). Defined as a matrix barcode readable by use of a Smartphone with an enabled right barcode reading applications, the technology’s applicability in the health care contains health information about a patient that can be used during emergencies (Bassendowski, 2012). Despite the high potential that this technology holds in attending patients during emergency cases, ethical and privacy concerns have been raised that make the public and healthcare institutions shy from adopting it. In demystifying the use of QR codes in healthcare, this paper will look at its background, advantages and disadvantages and give answers as to whether the technology is safe for adoption by the public. Quick Response Codes (QR) is the trademark technology for either a matrix barcode or two-dimensional code that holds information about a particular item, product or a person. Initially designed for the automotive industry in Japan by the “Denso Wave Corporation” in 1994, the technology has found a myriad of other uses due to its success. Original designers of QR Codes intended it to aid in tracking Toyota vehicles and their parts during the manufacturing process. Increasingly though, other businesses and corporations especially the packaging companies have adopted the technology. Finding its way to the United States as a an advertiser’s strategy of providing potential customers with information and URLs containing information about the company and product specifications, the technology has cross boarders and healthcare now is embracing it more and more, and recommending it to patients (Samwald, & Adlassnig, 2013). Healthcare’s exploitation of the technology seeks to use it in different ways for example a woman scheduling a mammogram by reading a QR Code that provides access to a website. They can offer patients with directions to online libraries for health information and educational videos as well as providing access to components of electronic health records (EHRs). The simplicity and the ease of use of the technology have been cited by some scholars as the biggest reason for its recommendation to the healthcare. QR Codes do not require any specialized tags as (Samwald & Adlassnig, 2013) observes. It is a 2D technology, easily generated and printable on numerous surfaces without the use of any specialized equipment. People can develop these codes easily and embed their personal information that are of great help to the medical teams when treating them in an emergency case. the process of scanning and obtaining all the information, both personal and medical helps in saving a lot of time for the patient in case of an emergency. Learning the process of developing and using this technology by people takes a short while, whilst it has the potential of saving their lives in the long run (Bassendowski, 2012). Scanning and decoding of the information from the most obvious devices that are easily accessible such as Smartphones and iPhones saves time for the doctors and nurses (Baum, Top of Form2013). The barcode, containing crucial information about the patient when scanned saves time of running preliminary tests or having to enquire about the patient form sources that are unavailable. Residential places, next of kin, blood group and age among others are the kinds of information that an individual can include in the QR Code. There is no limitation as to the amount that a person can provide, the only factor that is put into consideration being safety. Information provided by Quick Response Codes is reliable as the margin of error is low. Diagnosing, prescription and application of nursing interventions to a patient is done with precision and confidence as the information provided in the code has been provided by the patient. Additionally, the scanning device does not collect outside information that does not relate to the bar, as the camera has the ability to decode the exact information scanned. Moreover, any external information detected is classified separately and therefore makes it a reliable way of obtaining information for the medical personnel (Baum, Top of Form2013). Various disadvantages have also been associated with the QR Codes technology. The failure of its developers to ascertain its effectiveness has been the biggest impediment to its adoption by many people. Being new in the health sector and undergoing its initial stages of implementation, it is yet to be ascertained as a reliable yet safe way of providing information about oneself. Having been a corporation affair in its usability and application, the technology has not had the opportunity of being shared with individual people. There is scepticism of its reliability, while people view it judgementally and with suspicion. Until it can be proven to be highly effective and reliable, the likelihood of people fully embracing it is low. According to Maeder & Martin-Sanchez (2012), privacy of the technology is concern is yet another concern for the technology. The code has no Personal Logging in details, and as thus, anybody can access it without any difficulties. Having a device that has the ability to scan and decode the information, anybody can scan and acquire all the information provided for in the code. This compromises the privacy of the patient, especially in the event of that information falling in the hands of the wrong people. Through scanning, the information is fed to the system of the health institution without the consent of the patient, and thus compromising their privacy. Moreover, how to develop a code requires some sort of expertise that the layman cannot do, while the devices that have the ability to scan the barcode have been limited to Smartphones and scanners. Conclusion and Recommendations Owing to its great success in the automobile industry and packaging business, QR Codes have the potential of being successful in the healthcare industry as well. Despite their numerous advantages and the benefits that they are likely to bring along in the healthcare industry, the limitations of the technology stops it from being adopted. These have increasingly raised numerous suspicions among the people in the society, and are thus unwilling to adopt the technology. Addressing these suspicions is the best way of instilling people’s confidence on the technology. The belief that it is a government’s plan to gain access to people’s private information for its own use, the lack of privacy on the technology and the limited numbers of devices that have the capability to scan the barcodes are some of the recommended issue that need to be addressed by the developers of Quick Response Codes in healthcare. References Bassendowski, S. (2012). Quick Response (QR) Codes, Canadian journal of nursing informatics, 7 (1). http://cjni.ca/journal/?p=1972 Baum, S Top of Form. (18 February 2013). Personal QR codes could help first responders get vital patient information. Retrieved from http://medcitynews.com/2013/02/personal-qr-code-could-help-first-responders-get-vital-patient-information/ Maeder, A. & Martin-Sanchez, F. (2012). Health Informatics: Building a Healthcare Future Through Trusted Information; Selected Papers from the 20th Australian National Health Informatics Conference (HIC 2012). Sydney: IOS Press. Samwald, M & Adlassnig, K. (2013). Pharmacogenomics in the pocket of every patient? A prototype based on quick response codes, Journal of Informatics in Health and Biomedicine. http://jamia.bmj.com/content/early/2013/01/22/amiajnl-2012-001275.abstract Bottom of Form Read More