The Importance Of High-quality Labels In Laboratories

By Author: Tarun Tyagi
Total Articles: 3
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Today, many of you will be well familiar with the barcode labels. You know how much these barcodes are becoming so important for each and every industrial organization, especially the medical industry. Before this technology, many tasks like specimen collection, patient identification, and treatment records are all done on pen and paper in the laboratory. This manual process is highly prone to several errors like misspelled entries, wrong tests performed, delayed results, etc. But, now with the advancement of barcode technology, all these errors are almost reduced to zero. It plays a major role in making the laboratory well organized, productive as well as successful.
The necessity of the laboratory barcode labels
Now, let’s understand the importance of laboratory barcode labels in another way. Suppose a lab uses handwritten labels on the specimens. In this case, there is a possibility that the doctors can’t able to diagnose the patient more effectively because these labels are difficult to read or understand and typically cannot withstand the extreme temperature conditions seen in most laboratories. The ink ...
... used in these labels can be quickly disrupted and the paper labels can also be easily disintegrated from an adhesive by the solvents used in lab procedures. All these issues will delay the treatment of the patients because of the unidentified specimen. But in the case of properly designed laboratory labels, they can be easily survived any harsh environmental conditions and also resistant to the chemical solvents that automatically result in better patient treatment.
The main advantage of laboratory barcode labels is that it is not limited to medical use, they can also be used in some other application areas like agricultural, biotechnology, forensic labs, etc. With the proper barcode labels, lab technicians can greatly minimize the incidence of incorrectly identified, lost, or unusable samples and some negative effects, such as repeat samples, incorrect diagnoses, and inappropriate treatment.
Impact of barcodes on medical laboratories
One of the main purposes of using the barcode labels in a lab is that it makes it easier to track the proper specimen samples and equipment required to conduct the test. This will result in fast and accurate treatment of patients.
Barcode is a convenient and economic option to organize the samples in a better way. It prevents unnecessary errors from sample collection to sample storage and ensures the smooth workflow of the laboratory.
Benefits of barcode labels in the lab environment
If you ever visit a laboratory, you will notice that there are lots of chemicals and specimens placed on the racks. Without proper labels, it is very hard to identify and organize them. Labels provide accurate information about each specimen and ensure the lab technicians that they are working on the right specimens.
In the laboratories, there are many materials that expired and become no longer usable. With proper labeling, lab techs can easily identify such materials, and the risk of failing experiments is also reduced.
There are some chemicals in the lab that needs to be stored in the correct environment otherwise, they will react with their surroundings and become unusable. Barcode labels stores all the information about the chemicals regarding their surrounding like proper temperature and conditions. This helps the lab tech to keep the chemicals in the right place.
If you ever working in a school laboratory, you will see that there are some hazardous chemicals and substances placed on the shelves. It becomes very necessary to proper labeling them otherwise, there are higher chances that anyone can accidentally use these chemicals and put their life at risk.
All these points are clearly explained to you how much these barcode labels are important for a laboratory. They provide benefits not only to the labs but also ensure the person’s safety.