QR Codes in Healthcare- Why?

Charlie Brooker is a very funny man. He’s posted several Tweets recently about QR codes:

charltonbrooker Charlie Brooker

You know those QR Code things? (these: bit.ly/wcLYm ) – quick survey – does ANYONE (marketing plips aside) use or care about them?

17 Sep Favorite Retweet Reply

Well, Charlie is using the idea for comic effect here, but in fact his comments are not dissimilar in tone from many I have experienced from people working in healthcare when faced with new technology.

The trouble is, engaging e-patients as full partners in care is scary for lots of people. Let me be clear: these are not people with some megalomaniac tendency to withold information from the patient. These are committed health professionals who are having difficulty getting used to the idea that the rules of the game have changed, for ever.

Because the rules are different now. We used to always come back to e-safety and to Data Protection. Now, we have to consider the agendas of openess, transparency, accountability, and the financial implications of the global downturn and the real cuts to service funding within which we have to operate.

charltonbrooker Charlie Brooker

Basically if you’re thinking of putting a QR Code on an advert, don’t. You might as well put up a set of unnecessary stairs for me to climb.

17 Sep Favorite Retweet Reply

Here,  Charlie is summarising what a lot of people will be saying- why bother with things like QR codes? Surely they’re just geeky newfangled marketing devices? They’re clearly entering the public subconcious, but what are they? How are they being used in now, and how may they be used in the future?

The excellent @salma_patel documented their use in healthcare during a recent visit to hospital:

Photo from Salma Patel's blog

What information could be contained in this small graphic?

We’re all familiar with barcodes. They can contain a certain amount of information. But they have limitations. Have you ever been able to read them? Probably not. You can see the information when they are bleeped through at the checkout, because the reader in the scanner transfers the numerical code and retreives the accompanying information about the product from a central computerised source. Supermarkets like them because they can track stock, therefore reducing waste and reducing costs. (I knew that student job on the checkout would come in handy one day!) In fact, barcodes are not uncommon to find on hospital wristbands, medicine stocks etc. for similar reasons.

QR codes are best understood as bar codes that can hold much more information, and which can be read by anyone with a smartphone.

Here’s a five minute video that explains how you can use QR codes to access more information, URLs, Text messages, contact details etc.

I believe that QR Codes could be useful not least because technology exists to track how many people used the QR Code to access information. Like the supermarkets with barcodes, healthcare providers will want to know the “ROI” (return on investment) of all activities, especially in this new climate. QR Codes give a simple way of connecting with the public, who provide feedback about your Communications campaigns, every time they click through a QR Code. And the information it linked to can be changed centrally, without having to reprint the information in public places- saving costs, measuring impact. And that means all your communications, between staff, between staff and patients, between corporate and clinical areas, anywhere you fancy.

For instance,

• Many OT departments display a timetable of organised activities. How great would it be if the most up-to-date information was instantly accessible to the patients and staff without having to wait for the “Therapy Board” to get updated? just click the QR code and go to the website or blog for the Therapy Department.
• Could patient’s medications, address, phone numbers, next of kin etc be contained in a QR Code for final checking at pharmacy before medication dispensing, to reduce errors in prescribing and to ensure appropriate people are contacted in the event of emergencies?
• Could older people keep a QR Code on the inside of their fridge door for emergency services to read medications, next of kin, phone numbers, allergies etc. in the event of falls or emergencies?
• Could young people in schools have their own QR Codes on exercise books to integrate therapy and education goals, report back on session progress, amend treatment plans, and keep this information accessible to the parents at all times?
• Could nutritional content of vending machines in hospitals be available through using QR Codes to make smarter choices about what we eat?
• Could community mental health friendly events use QR codes on posters, advertising to link location details, maps, bus routes, times, staff, even allow you to book a place, without having to make that next step of phoning the organiser?
• Could QR codes in patient notes coordinate communications between hospital departments and sites, when inevitably good communication and collaboration is key to a patient’s care?
• How about tracking patient data, or a child’s protection plan, from one Trust or local authority to another?

These are just thoughts from the top of my head, but the possibilities are surely endless. Tonight, from 8pm to 9pm, the #nhssm webchat will seek to answer that question. It would be great if you joined us then, with any ideas or concerns you might have!

Edit [21/09/11] during the #nhssm chat there were many great resources shared. I’m sorry that it all came out so fast I wasn’t able to keep track of where the links came from, so thanks to the whole #nhssm community for being so generous with your knowledge!

• BBC- How to create your own QR Code
• @robdykedotcom shares his own QR code
• Improving hospital marketing with QR codes
• 22 ways to use QR codes
• Security risks of QR codes
• Great Ormond Street uses Medical Facebook
• Mobile- the Brits love tech
• Video- mobile QR code reader

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