In today’s healthcare environment, a broad team of professionals should engage in the quest to improve patient safety through identifying and discussing the successes and failures that lead to organizational learning.

Barcode technology has long been hailed as an effective tool in the struggle to improve patient safety. The risks and advantages offered by barcodes have been well known for a decade or more (Leape et al., 1995; Brennan et al., 1991; Low & Belcher, 2002). The concept of barcodes goes back to 1948, and the first scanner was installed in a Cincinnati Kroger grocery store in 1972 (Reynolds, n.d.).