More secure method of administering medications for improved patient safety through SATO’s Positive Patient Identification solution

CHARLOTTE, NC and Bartlesville, OK – September 1, 2006 – SATO Corporation, a global leader in barcode printing, labeling, and EPC/RFID solutions, today announced the installation of SATO America, Inc.’s Positive Patient ID solution at Jane Phillips Medical Center (JPMC), a fully accredited healthcare facility serving northeastern Oklahoma and southeastern Kansas.

SATO’s Positive Patient ID solution offers healthcare providers a path to compliance using the latest in cost effective patient identification technology, SATO DuraMark™ thermal wristbands, code colorized fastening clips, CTMD thermal printers, and Label Gallery HC application software. Label Gallery HC seamlessly interfaces to any hospital information system and allows the use of advanced identification technologies.

“SATO’s Positive Patient ID solution will advance JPMC’s method of banding, tracking, and administering medications to patients admitted to the facility,” said Marc Rafferty, Pharm.D., Pharmacy Manager at JPMC. “The new system requires our healthcare staff to scan each patient’s wristband at their bedside before medications are administered, thus ensuring a higher level of patient safety.  SATO’s Positive Patient ID wristbands work seamlessly with our bedside bar code medication verification process helping to insure that our patients receive safe and timely medication therapy.”

SATO CTMD printers are high performance thermal printers that are operationally quiet, which enables them to be placed in the most sensitive of hospital environments, and feature a coating of ZEOMIC™ (an antimicrobial agent). Easy to operate and requiring less than 25% of the counter space dedicated to existing card embossers, the SATO CTMD integrates into JPMC’s existing network infrastructure without an increase in administrative overhead.

SATO’s DuraMark wristbands are latex free, virtually indestructible, patient comfortable, and easily read. Print legibility is maintained even after extended exposure to water, abrasion, cleaners, and everyday wear and tear. 

According to Jamie Stallings, SATO America’s Healthcare Product Manager, “SATO’s DuraMark Wristband enhances patient safety through positive identification of individuals by linking each patient’s medical record number or account number using human readable text, barcodes, and if desired, a patient’s photo. SATO’s HealthCARE ID solution enables Jane Phillips Medical Center to print the right wristband, for the right patient, at the right time without intervention from the nursing or administrative staff. It further ensures that the right medications are administered to the right patient. Also important to note, SATO’s Positive Patient ID solution meets or exceeds the demanding requirements of the FDA, AHA, HIPAA, and provides compliance with JCAHO guidelines for patient identification and safety.”

“When the JPMC team was planning implementation of bedside barcode scanning for medication administration, it was clear we wanted to also implement a system to ensure patient identification utilizing a unique barcode, found only on the patient wristband,” said Susan Herron, RN, Director of Nursing Operations. “SATO was able to meet the needs of our organization and to ensure accurate “at the bedside” patient identification. The use of the unique barcodes on the SATO band is currently used during medication administration and during finger stick glucometer readings. We anticipate further expansion and use of the SATO bands in the future for patient identification needs such as phlebotomy and blood product administration.”

About SATO
SATO is a pioneer in the Automatic Identification and Data Collection (AIDC) industry and the inventor of the world’s first electronic thermal transfer barcode printer. It revolutionized the barcoding industry by introducing the Data Collection Systems (DCS) & Labeling concept – a total barcode and labeling solution providing high quality barcode printers, scanners/hand held terminals, label design software and consumables. SATO is one of the first in the industry to introduce a complete, multi-protocol EPC-compliant, UHF RFID solution.

SATO is publicly listed on the first section of Tokyo Stock Exchange in Japan. It has worldwide offices in the United States, Belgium, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Poland, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and China. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2005, it reported revenues of US$575 million. For more information, contact SATO America at www.satoamerica.com.

About Jane Phillips Medical Center
JPMC is a 150-bed medical facility offering a wide range of services including general medicine, surgery, cardiopulmonary care, maternal and infant care, cancer treatment, geriatric care, orthopedics, and physical medicine.