Digital revolution delivers barcode babies

Patients at Mackay Base Hospital no longer have to decipher the messy handwriting on doctors' notes and instructions. That's because Mackay is the first regional Queensland hospital to go completely digital; tracking medication, treatment, allergies and even which mother gave birth to which baby. Once that information was tracked on paper files but each patient now has a barcode - including babies. Baby Leyland Quinn was oblivious to the fame but can claim to be the first baby in Queensland to be born with a fully integrated electronic medical record when he was delivered on October 23 at Mackay Base Hospital.