Bar Coding for Patient Safety

A small revolution in patient safety is taking place in the basement of our hospital. Deep underground, in a windowless room about the size of a closet, sits a 6-ft-long hydraulic machine straight out of Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. With the flip of a switch, it spins to life, spitting out drugs on a miniature conveyer belt. Single pills, prepackaged in foil, and bottles intermingle along the track, inching toward the end, where they are each individually bar-coded. The machine is a central part of a new hospital-wide system that is so complex it requires a multimillion-dollar budget to institute . . .