Zebra Technologies, a market leader in marking and printing technologies, is currently presenting its extensive range of solutions – including new mobile printer models - designed specifically for the healthcare sector, at the ongoing Arab Health 2015.

The company is also highlighting its strategic relationship with Hamad Medical Corporation in Qatar, which has introduced Zebra printers to enhance patient identification, through labelling and wristbands, including pathology and pharmacy.  
 
Printing plays a critical role in the healthcare sector, from patient and staff identification to enabling the labelling of bedside specimens and samples at the point of collection; reducing the risk of errors and adverse events.

In 2012, the mislabelling of samples caused 150,000 adverse events in the US alone.
 
The Zebra range of desktop and mobile healthcare printing solutions are already in use in the GCC across a range of hospital operations from patient admission desk to the bedside, as well as the medical laboratory and hospital pharmacy.

Hospitals can print critical information such as dosage information and prescription labels, bedside sample collection, patient ID wristbands and staff ID cards using Zebra’s solutions.    
 
Zebra’s healthcare printers such as the QLn Healthcare are small and light enough to be easily carried either on a belt clip or on a trolley and deliver labels at point of care, saving time and money and improving the patient experience, whilst enhancing patient safety.

They are simple and easy to use and manage and can operate individually or in groups, and remotely through designed-in connectivity (Zebra’s Link-OS environment) and apps using devices such as iPad and iPhone.

They are also constructed using durable, disinfectant-ready materials so they can be quickly and easily cleaned in between each use and are easy to maintain.
 
Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) is the principal public healthcare provider for Qatar. In addition to three general hospitals HMC also manages five specialist hospitals which look after patients with the most prevalent conditions, including cancer, heart conditions, rehabilitation, and providing specialist treatment for women and children.
 
Paul Charnley, assistant chief HICT - Strategic Programmes Health Information and Communications Technology, Hamad Medical Corporation, said: ‘’We are using Zebra printers for label production from the new Clinical Information System that we are introducing in our hospitals in Hamad Medical Corporation.”

“They are used for patient identification labels and wristbands, pathology and, pharmacy, to ensure that we match the right patient with the right sample or drug. Providing clear identification in both human readable form and in barcodes (1D or 2D) is an important part of our future state workflow design,” he said.
 
Pratik Kajaria, territory manager, Middle East, Zebra Technologies, said:  “Zebra’s printers are designed to meet the needs of the healthcare environment and service providers and the quality standards demanded by industry regulators.”

‘‘Patient misidentification and mislabelling in a hospital can lead to serious safety risks for patients and these printers can be used from admission right to the patient’s bedside, It’s all about making hospitals safer and more productive,” he added.
 
Zebra’s healthcare solutions are certified and recommended by all of the leading Electronic Health Records (EHR) providers, it added. – TradeArabia News Service