Utilization of a Bar-Code System in a Nuclear Pharmacy

Abstract

The need for positive identification and validation of administered radiopharmaceuticals is especially important in nuclear pharmacies. The effects of implementing a bar-code system to help improve the accuracy of this task were evaluated in our nuclear pharmacy. A bar-code system utilizing four wand scanners was incorporated with the Du Pont Nuclear Medicine/Nuclear Pharmacy Manager® software, run on an IBM Personal System/2™ Model 70 computer. All cold kits and lead pigs were pre-affixed with bar-code labels by the technologists. All the individual components (i.e., cold kit, lead pig, and eluting lead container) were then verified with the bar-code system when preparing a radiopharmaceutical. If an incorrect component was accidently chosen during the procedure, the computer alerted the technologist with a warning beep and message. In the same manner, if the wrong radiopharmaceutical was chosen when drawing a patient dose, the individual was alerted to the mistake. Since implementing this bar-code system in our nuclear pharmacy 23 months ago, we have eliminated misadministrations caused by incorrect kit preparation or selection of the wrong radiopharmaceutical. The biggest disadvantage of the bar-code system is the large amount of time a technologist must spend affixing bar-code labels to the cold kits and lead pigs. The pharmaceutical companies should be encouraged to include bar codes on all cold kits and radiopharmaceuticals because the need for greater accuracy in the performance of nuclear medicine procedures would benefit from a broader application of barcodes.