I desperately would like some help from a Meditech user who is able to scan units in. We can't seem to get our scanning to work until we've entered the product in manually.

T Canfield

Capital Medical Center

Meditech C/S gives lots of messages when scanning things in "Enter Units". Can you tell us what messages you're getting?

I'm assuming that the scanner is working OK. To check a keyboard wedge reader, I use Notepad or something similar.

It sounds like your scanners are working, if you can scan the units (such as for crossmatching?) after you enter them. Is it just the unit entry that is not working? All fields or just some fields? Are you Magic or C/S?

One thing we had trouble with: if using batch entry you must scan in the source, otherwise the unit number will not scan correctly.

We also had to create new Bar code fields and Bar Code Terms in the BBK dictionary for expiration and blood type, the standard content did not work for us.

Linda Frederick

I had trouble with the stop and start characters in the barcodes being in the wrong case. I just read something in MT info that sounded like the scanners would work opposite if you have cap locks on or off. If you are finding it works sometimes, but not others, check cap locks and check that the Bar code terms and Bar code fields dictionaries have everything in the proper case.

Thanks for the tips. I'll get together with the lab manager and see if we can try these. Unfortunately, I don't have the proper access or training to manipulate those dictionaries myself, and our blood bank savvy Meditech LIS person has been gone since June 2006. Our manager is trying to carry the load, but ISBT has sort of fallen through the cracks so far.

I had trouble with the stop and start characters in the barcodes being in the wrong case.

Define the barcode fields as upper and lower case. Input pattern type CHAR with value "a" for lower case and value "A" for upper case.

We can't seem to get our scanning to work

Do you have your clients set up to enter barcodes?

BC.doc