At the heart of tracking pharmaceuticals, clinical trials and medical devices is the debate about whether to use barcodes or RFID tags. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, and there really isn't a clear winner. It’s a matter of understanding your circumstances and knowing which method will deliver the best results for your organization.
Consider How You Will Use Them
Different technologies are better suited to certain applications. Because barcodes require a direct line of sight, they work better when the view of the barcode is not hindered in any way. For example, barcodes are used in hospitals in the US on patient wristbands and diagnostic equipment. These can be challenging locations for a barcode scanner. RFID tags, on the other hand, can be implanted in patients and attached to costly equipment and can be read from anywhere inside the hospital.
Which Way is More Efficient?
RFID can read over 100 tags at a time, whereas scanning barcodes is a much more manual procedure, requiring them to be scanned one at a time.
Is One More Accurate Than the Other?
Both RFID and barcoding is as good as the information in the tag or the barcode. Both have the possibility of human error in data entry. Information can also be affected by faulty system design, duplicate reads, skipped reads and other factors.
Which Holds More Information?
One of RFID's strengths is that a tag holds more data than a barcode does. In turn, additional information can be written to the tag as it passes through the supply chain. However, 2D barcodes capture more information in a smaller space than traditional barcodes.
Is One More Secure than the Other?
Privacy is an important issue in the life sciences industry. A printed bar code label doesn’t reveal much information to an outsider; passive and active RFID tags reveal a lot more. However, when it comes to counterfeiting, RFID tends to be a more secure option. RFID tags are difficult to replicate and data can be encrypted, password protected, or permanently deleted, so information stored is much more secure. Barcodes are much easier to reproduce than RFID tags.
Cost
One of the hindrances of RFID technology has been the cost. Barcode technology is much cheaper to implement and maintain than RFID technology. Tracking for pharmaceuticals, medical devices and clinical trials is an important part of FDA compliance, so it’s important to choose the system that works best for your organization.
For more information on this topic, visit www.prisymid.com.
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