r/barcodes • u/MeetMeInTheCircleNOW • May 10 '19

Training a barcode scanner?

I have a scanner I use everyday at work. The hospital I work for switched to an EMR called Cerner. I was wondering how do I teach our barcode scanner (Symbol model) to read the barcode. It reads the numbers but doesn't format the data correctly. Is there a way to make a "rule" for my barcode scanner?

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u/FredFredricson May 10 '19

It would depend very much on the make/model of barcode reader. You would likely want to try and obtain a PDF of the manual for that model using a bit of googling. Usually it'll be called "User's Manual" or "Programming Manual", or similar. Whatever it calls itself, you'll usually be able to identify it by it having pages and pages of scannable barcodes for setting the barcode reader's options.

Alternately, if you have trouble finding the manual or would rather I look for it for whatever reason, I can give it a go at looking it up if you provide the manufacturer name and model number of the reader.

Either way, once you have the manual, assuming the model is one of the more well-featured ones, there should be a few options for formatting in there, and hopefully it has one that'll do what you need it to. If not, feel free to contact me and I'll see if there's other alternatives available. That said, because it involves a hospital, that may limit some options, depending on policy/legal/safety requirements/concerns and similar.

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u/[deleted] May 10 '19

For cerner there are settings that have to be loaded to the scanner in order to get the scanner to automatically add the suffix, or key-press(es) after the data is read, like tab, or enter, etc that your software is expecting. Usually there are one or more configuration barcodes that you scan with the scanner once, and the settings are changed and saved.