Medication errors occurring with the use of bar-code administration technology
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Series Title(s):
- Pennsylvania patient safety advisory
- Contributor(s):
- Pennsylvania. Patient Safety Authority. ECRI (Organization) Institute for Safe Medication Practices.
- Publication:
- [Harrisburg, Pa.] : Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority, c2008
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Automatic Data Processing Medication Errors -- prevention & control Medication Systems -- organization & administration Patient Identification Systems Pharmacy Service, Hospital Humans Pennsylvania United States
- Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- Bar-code medication administration (BCMA) systems can improve medication safety by verifying that the right drug is being administered to the right patient. Studies have shown that BCMA technology can reduce medication errors by 65% to 86%. But BCMA technology alone does not ensure a safe medication-use system. A number of reports submitted through PA-PSRS describe medication errors that occurred in organizations that used a bar-code system for administration. Some of these errors result from failures to use this technology appropriately, employing workarounds or overriding alerts, disruptions in the medication administration process, and dispensing errors that arise in the pharmacy. Strategies to address problems with this technology include reviewing BCMA logs to evaluate overrides and identify system weaknesses and monitoring and measuring compliance with the technology to identify and remove any barriers to its appropriate use.
- Copyright:
- Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY-NC-DC license. (More information)
- NLM Unique ID:
- 101568404 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101568404