About Barcodes

Barcode are machine-readable symbols used for identification, tracking, and inventory control. Hospitals use them to cross reference patient records and labs use them to associate lab requests and lab specimen labels for specific lab requisitions. Barcodes are fast and accurate, helps to eliminate data entry errors and often saves time and money.

There are several types of barcodes (referred to as symbologies). Barcodes symbologies can differ in length fixed, be numeric-only or alphanumeric. For example, Code 39 supports a variable length alphanumeric string that can be printed in a variety of sizes and aspect ratios.