Use of Quick Response Codes in Healthcare - Research Paper Example

? Use of Quick Response s in Healthcare USE OF QUICK RESPONSE S IN HEALTHCARE Quick Response s are 2 dimensional barcodes designed for reading by smart phones. The information that is found encoded within the Quick Response code could be calendar items, text messages, emails or URLs. The Quick Response code can be read by smart phone apps such as those found on iPhones. On reading the QR code, the app automatically generates the information encoded in it, which could involve directing the user to a URL or authoring an email. QR codes are gaining popularity and notability in the United States as they are versatile and easy to use. The QR code itself stores a lot of information that is easily scanned as well as stored on a mobile device. Many health care facilities have now started to adopt this code for service delivery and provision of information to their clients. These codes have both merits and demerits. This paper seeks to highlight the benefits and drawbacks of these codes in order to make an informed decision regarding their use in healthcare facilities. Quick response codes have recently become an increasingly notable and popular way to interact with healthcare consumers. They improve the client experience allowing the facility to share information with them. SSM healthcare has recently instituted a new initiative over the past few months (Waters, 2012). The project “Experience Exceptional: Our People” was launched in order to share SSM’s healthcare staff with the hospital’s community of clients. By developing this site, SSM healthcare has created a two-minute clip for the introduction of their staff to make the community better acquainted with their doctors and nurses. In order to increase viewership of these introduction clips, the facility has placed Quick Response codes in its magazine. The Quick Response codes also allow for easier navigation of hospital premises and departments, especially for the first time visitors. One facility that has done this with amazing results is Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center (Waters, 2012). While most facilities developing Quick Response code technology went with creating codes for mobile phones, Hershey tried out a different method by placing the Quick Response codes on maps within hospital premises to help link with a PDF download of that specific map. The client can then carry it with him or her on the go. Some healthcare facilities have taken this technology to the healthy living segment. This has allowed their clients to access healthy food without having to shop around. Inova Health System entered into a partnership with farmer markets in the local area to encourage consumers of healthcare to shop for their produce locally (Waters, 2012). To aid the community’s “Buy Fresh Buy Local” initiative, Inova created a Quick Response code that, on scanning, retrieves the phone’s mapping program and gives directions to a local market instantly. Healthcare facilities can also use the QR codes to schedule appointments. Athens Regional Health Services recently made mammogram bookings become much easier (Waters, 2012). The facility launched a Quick Response code that has the capability of linking to a site where the client can easily and instantly book an appointment for a mammogram. As with most technological advances in the healthcare sector, the QR codes do have their drawbacks. While it is one of the most significant occurrences in today’s internet-savvy community in the healthcare sector, it does have some considerable drawbacks. The popularity of Quick Response has been growing rapidly around the globe with more cell phone users switching to smart phones from the conventional cell phone. This has seen an increase in iPhone and Blackberry use around the world. The first advantage of using Quick Response codes is that they can read practically everything that appears online (Waters, 2012). The camera on the iPhone has now become a link to the online world, including hospital facility websites using a QR code reader. To read QR codes, the phone requires a code reader, which can be downloaded and installed in a matter of moments. Another advantage of using Quick Response codes is the fact that the scanner needs not be aligned in a specific way to read the barcode (Waters, 2012). Perfectly lining the scanner up to the code to read it is not mandatory. Although a user requires relatively stable hands, the code reader is capable of sharpening and correcting shaky codes. Additionally, most phones now have cameras with advanced capabilities. Other advantages include provision of information regardless of location, savings for healthcare facilities wishing to brand their services, and the ability for the facility to carry out health surveys efficiently. One disadvantage for the use of QR codes is the cost of smart phones in comparison to conventional phones (Waters, 2012). This system is more suited for internet-savvy healthcare consumers, but those above the age of fifty have no need for such a resource draining technological advancement. However, the current competitive nature of the smart phone market is set to bring prices a little lower. Additionally, most people do not know what QR codes are despite all the hype. A survey conducted in one of the world’s most tech-savvy cities, San Francisco, showed that only 11% could identify a QR code, with a further twenty-nine percent referring to it as some form of barcode. Of the eleven percent that knew what it was, only thirty-five percent had the ability to read it by using their phone. Of these, only forty-five percent could successfully read information from the Quick Response code unaided (Waters, 2012). In the case of the elderly members of the community seeking advice on the use of QR codes, there is no real value in using Quick Response codes that cannot be done using other conventional means (Waters, 2012). There is neither exclusive content that they could access using the codes nor special healthcare rate for using the service. Since the main aim for QR code use in healthcare is to point people to resources, using SMS messages and more marketing material for the elderly generation would be better. These Quick response codes also represent a hassle, especially for a generation that is not very tech-savvy. Even for those with passable tech-literacy, it is possible to download and install Quick Response readers to the smart phone and uninstall them almost immediately. This is because their use can be time consuming with variable outcomes. In most cases, especially during pilot programs for QR codes, the codes take the clients to the normal website rather the mobile-optimized one. Quick Response codes have numerous good reasons for use in the healthcare sector. However, the majority of facilities utilizing them have done so without applying enough thought on its strategy. For the right audience, in this case the tech-savvy generation, the medium is appropriate and timesaving with lower cost and availability of valuable content. However, for the elderly community, it is a hectic task and, in fact, threatens to make hospital visits more cumbersome for them. References Waters, J. (2012). QR codes for dummies. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. Read More