QR Codes are indeed very appealing to the advertising and marketing industry; they have been used in marketing due to their capability to direct the customers to a hyperlink. Many of the companies that use QR codes are targeting a particular type of clientele. One of the many advantages to this is that with today’s technology most of us have Smartphone’s that come equipped to be able to scan and read the processed information embedded in them. This, making it a great tool, since the hyperlink can directly leads them to their desired intent, to potentially sell you an idea or concept or lifestyle. Imagine the potential, since the information that it holds can include up to 7,100 characters of numeric code, 4,300 alphanumeric characters, or 3000 binary (8 bits) units (Sorensen, Glassman, 2011). The information could be as small as a phone number that could be scanned to dial and as large as a full web page, just with a click of a scan. The QR codes help the companies as much as the consumer. A great advantage is that it is interactive through the internet, downloading coupons becomes very easy, all of a sudden creating a potential to save for the consumer and giving Marketing companies a great deal of advantage to divulge their product and information. Another advantage in its favor comes from an ecological point of view. It saves paper. With a single scan, coupons could be stored in the phone to be presented to the stores for its use, saving a lot of paper and protecting our environment. Disadvantages that could create problems for marketing and advertising companies are identity issues. Since the availability to create such codes is virtually everywhere from downloadable programs to applications, anyone with a computer could create a QR code and place it in a make believe company creating the illusion of legitimacy. That would be a potential risk of misinterpretation. The attainability of the code is both an advantage and a disadvantage; since anyone can make the codes it could pose security breaches. The use of Quick Response codes has had a profound influence in the medical field. Not only is the information readily available, but it is interactive. QR codes can provide patients with additional information to their medical conditions and treatments. In addition, QR codes have been an invaluable tool for medical education and teaching. Such was the case in a Family Practice in Front Royal, Virginia. “The doctor’s office created QR codes into its front office and exam rooms for nearly 2 years. Using a software program designed by two of the doctors, nonclinical and clinical staff alike can create QR codes to help patients manage their conditions and keep appointments”(Lewis, 2012). It is no news that nearly everyone has access to
Smartphone’s; using that as a tool, nurses and doctors can incorporate and target particular age groups accordingly. Nurse Peggy recalls how she used the program during a recent encounter with a teenaged patient who wounded her knee. Rather than printing wound-care instructions on paper, which could be lost or ignored, Peggy selected the instructions on her (HER: “Electronic Health Record”) screen, clicked a few keys, and generated a QR code. The patient eagerly scanned the code into her phone "She looked at it and she said, 'Wow, that's so cool!' "Peggy says.”Now she's got a handout, she's excited about it, and she's not going to lose it"
(Lewis, 2012). In addition to medical information, education, and teaching, there is also another potential and exciting use for this technology. The portability of your medical health records could potentially