The need for clear labelling in pharmacies is a prerequisite, both in front of and behind the counter. The new generation of small desktop label printers can help reduce horror stories of the wrong labels or unclear or misleading information being put onto medication.

Several manufacturers are producing these new printers; one compact range produces professional, clear labels or stickers in seconds. It prints labels one at a time from a roll, so you no longer have to keep feeding a large sheet in to the printer to get just one single address label or sticker.

It is also useful for storing all your addresses for suppliers, contacts and customers in one place so that you can call them up as and when you need and simply print off another label, one at a time. Because just a single label can be created and printed as needed, costs are kept down, the process is efficient and there are no wasted sheets of labels. Direct thermal printing technology eliminates the need for expensive inks, ribbons or toner, which also means no more dirty fingerprints or accidents with inks.

Printers of this kind have been generating considerable interest for some time in the US. Most recently, it is customers in the health sector who have adopted them as an everyday support tool for their business operations.

One user is US BioMedical Technology Solutions Inc. (BMTS), a leading provider of processing systems for on-site medical waste disposal. BMTS manufactures the Demolizer II, a system for on-site treatment and disposal of both sharps and ‘red bag’ waste for low- to medium-volume medical waste establishments. Customers include doctor and dentist offices, nursing homes, veterinary clinics and other healthcare facilities. After treatment, the sharp items and ‘red bag’ waste are sterile and syringes are destroyed. The treated waste is then labelled and thrown away with the everyday rubbish.

There are more than one million low- to medium-volume generators of medical waste in the US and millions more worldwide. As a result, stringent federal and state laws require that treated medical waste be accurately labelled before final disposal. Additionally, people responsible for medical waste must maintain detailed logbooks for up to three years. Clear and accurate printing of this type is no longer just handy – it is essential.

Today’s mini-printers are versatile and offer a wide range of label sizes and options. One includes a 2D barcode feature, which contains more information than conventional one-dimensional barcodes by making use of the vertical dimension to pack in more data.

In a hospital or medical setting, for instance, a single 2D barcode might include such data as patient name, account details (if applicable), treating physician, blood type, date of admittance and more. When shipping goods in any industry, the 2D barcode could provide information such as name, street, city, county, postcode and country for both the shipper and the addressee. All this is kept confidential in what appears to be just black blocks and lines to the naked eye.

Another benefit with these new printers is their size – some measure just 150mm in height and depth, suitable for locations where space is at a premium. The smaller footprint allows them to fit onto a desk or counter top, within easy reach of the user, so that there is no need to walk to a centralised printer or one tucked away in a back room.

These recent developments have meant that such printers are becoming increasingly integrated into healthcare organisations to provide instant labels and stickers for a wide variety of uses. Because of the high resolution – 300dpi in some cases – mini-printers offer clear, unambiguous, highly visible labels, making them ideal for nametags with a company or manufacturer’s logo. Many now import text and graphics from most Mac and PC applications directly to a variety of adhesive or paper labels; this is useful when marking items such as packaging, envelopes, files, storage boxes, floppy or Zip disks, video cassettes or 35mm slides.

COMPATIBILITY

These latest printers can easily be programmed to produce data entered into a freestanding or networked PC or laptop, or from other types of device.Most are now compatible with Windows 2000, Windows XP, Mac OS® 10.2 and higher, Power Macintosh® G3/G4 and iMac™, making printing labels from nearly any Windows or Mac application quick and easy.

Improved networking functionality allows some to be connected by USB or serial port at an individual user’s desktop or centrally as a network printer, letting multiple users in a large office access the printer without it being tied to a single computer. Gone are the days of large, cumbersome, industrial-sized printers taking up valuable space, churning out heat and wasting sheet upon sheet of costly labels and toners. These desktop versions offer a real alternative.