Effect of Bar-Code Technology on the Safety of Medication Administration

This study from a large academic hospital looked at medication errors before and after the implementation of technology for bar-code electronic medication-administration records. After implementation of the bar-code system, errors in transcription of medication orders were eliminated and errors in m...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The New England journal of medicine Vol. 362; no. 18; pp. 1698 - 1707
Main Authors: Poon, Eric G, Keohane, Carol A, Yoon, Catherine S, Ditmore, Matthew, Bane, Anne, Levtzion-Korach, Osnat, Moniz, Thomas, Rothschild, Jeffrey M, Kachalia, Allen B, Hayes, Judy, Churchill, William W, Lipsitz, Stuart, Whittemore, Anthony D, Bates, David W, Gandhi, Tejal K
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Waltham, MA Massachusetts Medical Society 06.05.2010
Subjects:
Academic Medical Centers - organization & administration
American Recovery & Reinvestment Act 2009-US
Automatic Data Processing
Biological and medical sciences
Drug Administration Schedule
Drug dosages
Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions
General aspects
Hospitals
Humans
Medical errors
Medical Order Entry Systems
Medical sciences
Medication Errors - prevention & control
Medication Errors - statistics & numerical data
Medication Systems, Hospital
Nurses
Order entry
Organizational Case Studies
Organizational Innovation
Pharmaceutical Preparations - administration & dosage
Physicians
United States
United States
Medicine
Drug
Chemotherapy
Treatment
Technology
Toxicity
Safety
Bar code
ISSN:0028-4793, 1533-4406, 1533-4406
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:This study from a large academic hospital looked at medication errors before and after the implementation of technology for bar-code electronic medication-administration records. After implementation of the bar-code system, errors in transcription of medication orders were eliminated and errors in medication administration and potential drug-related adverse events were reduced. After implementation of a bar-code system, errors in transcription of medication orders were eliminated and errors in medication administration and potential drug-related adverse events were reduced. Medication errors in hospitals are common 1 , 2 and often lead to patient harm. One study identified 6.5 adverse events related to medication use per 100 inpatient admissions; more than one fourth of these events were due to errors and were therefore preventable. 2 Among serious medication errors, about one third occur at the ordering stage of the medication process, another third occur during medication administration, and the remaining third occur in about equal numbers during the transcription and dispensing stages. 3 Health care information technology has been touted as a promising strategy for preventing medication errors. 4 – 6 For example, computerized physician-order entry . . .
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ISSN:0028-4793
1533-4406
1533-4406
DOI:10.1056/NEJMsa0907115