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The pros and cons of using bar codes to prevent medication errors
Barcode medication administration for nurses
Barcode medication administration for nurses
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Will the veterans at the VA Outpatient clinic have fewer medication errors in the implementation of a barcode administration system compared to those not using barcode the medication system, result in decreased medication error rate over a period of a year. This is the question that will be presented for this this research proposal. Medication errors occur daily and are steadily on a rise. According to Seibert (2014), adverse drug events has risen to 450, 000 annually from medication errors that resulted in injury, of which approximately 25% are preventable. A common medication errors include “prescribing errors, wrong drug, wrong dosage, incorrect calculation, not confirming allergies, and failure to adjust medication dose due to disease …show more content…
There will be the two VA outpatient clinics, with 100 veterans from each facility that will participate in the study. Over a 12-month period, the rate of errors will be determined by a pre and post implementation of the barcode medication administration system within the two VA outpatient clinics. Based another studies, over a years’ time, the physicians wrote approximately 1.7 million medication orders, and the nurses who passed the medications, there were approximately 5.9 million given. Based on the design, error rates were compared with hospital’s who had the BCMA, versus the hospital who did not (Poon et al., 2010). It was later noted that the rate of medication errors significantly decreased with the use of the BCMC. Setting/sample: Briefly describe the setting for the study, who your study participants will be, and how these participants will be chosen. Will random sampling or a sample of convenience be used? The setting will the veteran patients at the VA outpatient clinic, on similar unit. There will be convenience sample of 100 veterans from each facility for this study. The first VA outpatient clinic already have the barcode medication system in place and the second VA outpatient clinics does not, which the medications are given by …show more content…
Trained research nurses will observe administering of medication for appropriateness. According to Poon (2010), direct observation methods will be used to measure error rates. The research nurses will shadow the nurses during medication administration of the first 100 veteran patients, that agree to the study. During direct observation, this allows the research nurse to record detailed information regarding the medication that is administered to the veteran patient. At this time, if the research nurse feels that a medication was administered erroneously, the researcher can intercept, and record this information regarding the attempt to administered a medication error by this nurse. The medication errors are defined as timing, and transcribing. Data will be collected in addition to any incident reports. The study will use a monitoring system that is use surveillance of adverse drug events (ADEs) for reporting system for observed and new ADEs at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical facilities (VA, 2014). VA ADERS allows individuals to report, track, and electronically submit serious adverse drug events to the FDA’s MedWatch system (VA, 2014). This would be the way to gather baseline data and measure the
During the 1980’s and 90’s there were many studies done that showed that medical errors were occurring in inpatient and outpatient settings at a very high rate. Computer Provider Order Entry (CPOE) systems were designed to reduce or eliminate mistakes made by using hand written orders. The CPOE system allows users to directly enter their orders into the system on computers which are then sent directly to the healthcare providers that will be implementing the orders. Previously orders were placed by writing on order sheets on patient charts. This was sometimes done by the doctor or by a nurse acting on behalf of the doctor. Order sheets were then signed by the doctor and then the information was input into the patient’s record. This left room for error due to misreading bad handwriting, confusing medications with similar names, etc.
For my research paper, I will be discussing the impact of medication errors on vulnerable populations, specifically the elderly. Technology offers ways to reduce medication errors using electronic bar-coding medication administration (BCMA) systems. However, skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) are not using these systems. Medication is still administered with a paper or electronic medication administration record (eMAR), without barcode scanning. In contrast, every hospital I have been in: as a patient, nursing student, and nurse uses BCMA systems. The healthcare system is neglecting the elderly. Nursing homes should use BCMAs to reduce the incidents of medication errors.
I am truly amazed by the positive impact of bar-code medication administration (BCMA). Since we have a fully integrated electronic health record, it is a true closed loop-system, with medication order entry, pharmacy validation of medications, and clinical decision support. Implementing technology such as BCMA is an efficient way to improve positive identification of both the patient and medication prior to administration. It is estimated that the bar-code medication charting can reduce medication errors by 58% (Jones & Treiber, 2010). Even though we have good adoption of BCMA, nurses still make drug administration errors. In many of the cases, errors are caused by nurses, because they do not validate and verify. The integration of technology
This technology assist the nurse in confirming patients identify by confirming the patients’ dose, time and form of medication (Helmons, Wargel, & Daniels, 2009). Having an EHR also comes with a program that allows the medical staff to scan medications so medication errors can be prevented. According to Helmons, Wargel, and Daniels (2009) they conducted an observational study in two medical –surgical units one in the medical intensive care (ICU) and one in the surgical ICU. The researchers watched 386 nurses within the two hospitals use bar code scanning before they administrated patients’ medications. The results of the research found a 58 % decrease in medication errors between the two hospitals because of the EHR containing a bar code assisted medication administration
Nurses were the professional group who most often reported medication errors and older patients were those most often affected in the medication errors reports analyzed for this study (Friend, 2011). Medication error type’s revealed omitted medicine or dose, wrong dose, strength or frequency and wrong documentation were the most common problems at Site A where the traditional pen and paper methods of prescription were used; and wrong documentation and omission were the most common problems associated with medication errors at Site B where the electronic MMS was introduced (Friend, 2011). Reports of problems such as wrong drug, wrong dose, strength or frequency, quantity, wrong route, wrong drug and omitted dose were less frequent at Site B (Friend, 2011). The reduced incidence of omission errors at Site B supports suggestions that an advantage of the MMS is easy identification of patient requirements at each drug round time slot. Despite the finding of less omission errors at site B where the MMS had been introduced, there was a relatively high frequency in the incident reports of medication errors related to both omission and wrong dose, strength and frequency at both sites (Friend, 2011).
Implementing technology in a clinical setting is not easy and cannot be successful without a well-organized system. It is important that healthcare providers understand the electronic medication administration record (eMAR) and its role in improving patient safety. One of the most significant aspects of healthcare is the safety of our patients. Medication errors account for 44,000-98,000 deaths per year, more deaths than those caused by highway accidents or breast cancer. Several health information technologies help to reduce the number of medication errors that occur. Once of these technologies is bar-code-assisted medication administration (BCMA). These systems are designed to ensure that the right drug is being administered via the right
Agyemang, REO, and A While. "Medication errors: types, causes and impact on nursing practice." British Journal of Nursing (BJN) 19.6 (2010): 380-385. CINAHL Plus with Full Text. EBSCO. Web. 7 Mar. 2011.
Medication errors made by medical staff bring about consequences of epidemic proportions. Medical staff includes everyone from providers (medical doctors, nurse practitioners and physician assistants) to pharmacists to nurses (registered and practical). Medication errors account for almost 98,000 deaths in the United States yearly (Tzeng, Yin, & Schneider, 2013). This number only reflects the United States, a small percentage in actuality when looking at the whole world. Medical personnel must take responsibility for their actions and with this responsibility comes accountability in their duties of medication administration. Nurses play a major role in medication error prevention and education and this role distinguishes them as reporters of errors.
Administration of medication is a vital part of the clinical nursing practice however in turn has great potential in producing medication errors (Athanasakis 2012). It has been reported that over 7,000 deaths have occur per year related to medications errors within the US (Flynn, Liang, Dickson, Xie, & Suh, 2012). A patient in the hospital may be exposed to at least one error a day that could have been prevented (Flynn, Liang, Dickson, Xie, & Suh, 2012). Working in a professional nursing practice setting, the primary goal is the nurse and staff places the patient first and provides the upmost quality care with significance on safety. There are several different types of technology that can be used to improve the medication process and will aid staff in reaching a higher level of care involving patient safety. One tool that can and should be utilized in preventing medication errors is barcode technology. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how implementing technology can aid patient safety during the medication administration process.
Let’s say you want to do research to learn about the causes of drug use among teenagers in Connecticut. Explain how you could create a sample of teens to study using random sampling, convenience sampling, and snowball sampling, and discuss a limitation of each sampling method.
Electronic-prescribing, often referred to as e-prescribing, is a fairly new, innovative way for physicians and other medical personnel to prescribe medications and keep track of patients’ medical history. Not only has e-prescribing enabled prescribers to electronically send a prescription to the patients’ pharmacy of choice, in the short amount of time it has been available, it has significantly reduced health care costs, not only for the patient, but for the medical facilities as well. In 2003, e-prescribing was included in the Medicare Modernization Act (MMA) which jumpstarted the role of e-prescribing in healthcare. It has proven to significantly reduce the yearly number medication errors and prescription fraud, and its widespread publicity has helped build awareness of e-prescribing’s role in enhancing patient safety. Although it has not been in practice for very long, e-prescribing has already made a positive impact in the field of health care.
Bar code administration is being incorporated into the medication administration process across healthcare to increase patient safety and reduce medication errors
O’Shea, E (1999) Factors contributing to medication errors: a literature review. Journal of Clinical Nursing. 8, 5,496-503.
Medication errors are among the biggest issues in health care settings today. The effect of managed care is one of the causative factors. The need to contain costs has invariably doubled the nurses' workload making them less efficient as caregivers. Example of problem is the high incidence of medication errors. Nurses' workload has increased tremendously regardless of the fact that most of these patients are of great acuity, thereby predisposing them to a greater risk of medication errors.
The key to good research is preparation, preparation, and preparation. Hence, the key to making good sampling choices is preparation. Trochim (2008) defines sampling as the drawing of a sample (a subset) from a population (the full set). In our everyday lives we all draw samples without realising it. For instance, when one decides to taste some unfamiliar food or drink that is some form of sampling. Williams (2003 74) posits that “Sampling is a search for typicality). On the other hand, (Clark: 2006 87) defines sampling as “a process of drawing a number of individual cases from a larger population”. According to (Chiromo: 2006 16), “a sample is a smaller group or subset of the population”.