" Chances of giving a patient the wrong drug or dosage due to illegible handwriting are decreased. Barcoded medications and patient armbands also decrease the risk of administering at the wrong time or to the wrong patient.…
Instead of such safeguards, hospitals, like St. Mary's, are putting increasing faith in what are known as bar code computerized medication administration (BCMA) systems, which nurses use to scan bar codes on drugs and on patients' ID wristbands. This supposedly prevents nurses from giving the wrong patient the wrong drug, or administering the wrong dose, at the wrong time, through the wrong route.…
Electronic medical records are the future of health care. Information is the staple of any health care facility and the ability to speed up a process can only help provide efficient medical care. While we study and see what it takes to implement medical records and its structure in order to provide and organize a patient’s medical information to a medical facility. Implementing electronic medical records in long-term care will help make medical records accessible and efficient for a medical facility while also improving the quality of care for patients. Electronic records have…
Electronic medication administration records (MAR) are useful in displaying medications due at specific times. Not only is it possible to sort the medications due at one time, the MAR will also alert the nurse to potential drug interactions. Late medications will be displayed in red to be easily seen. If bar coding is implemented, medication errors can be reduced by a range of 60%-97% (Hunter, 2011).…
These errors include a physician prescribing a medication that has a negative reaction with another medication that a patient is currently taking. Another error is causes by pharmacist dispensing the wrong medication because they could not properly read the handwriting on a prescription, or prescribing a dose that is too high for the patient’s current age or condition. Majority of the problems responsible for medication errors can be solved with e-prescribing. Once a physician prescribes a medication the e-prescribing system automatically checks for conflicting medications, patient allergies and other conflicts, by using the patient’s medical history as well as current and past medications list. The e-prescribing system will then notify the physician as to what is has found and why that medication cannot be safely prescribed to that specific patient. This allows the physician to explore other medication…
For any new electronic program system to work it must be appropriate for the needs of those using the system. Patient safety should be the main concern when implementing new systems in a health care setting. Prior to implementing the electronic health record system at Garrison Children’s Hospital the implementation team should have done some extra research on how the system would affect patient care and the staff’s ability to use the system. Researching the program and its benefits to the hospital could prevent a system from failing.…
Administration (BCMA) in acute care and long-term care settings. Background: Medication errors are the most commonly documented cause of adverse events in hospital settings. Scanning of bar codes to verify patient and medication information may reduce medication errors. Method: A prospective ethnographic study was conducted using targeted observation. Fifteen acute care and 13 long-term care nurses were directly observed during medication administration at small, medium, and large Veterans Administration hospitals to detect workaround strategies. Results: Noncompliance with recommended practices was observed in all settings and facilities. A larger proportion of acute care nurses than long-term care nurses scanned bar-coded wristbands to identify…
The computerized databases in a pharmacy collect a host of patient information including the patient’s address, the patient’s name, the date it was filled, the place it was filled, the patient’s gender and age, the prescribing physician, what drug was prescribed, the dosage, and how many pills.…
Medication errors are reaching dangerous levels in Long Term Care Facilities and technology can help to alleviate this problem. Is there a better and more effective way of charting medications for distributing medications to help the med-pass run more efficiently? The med-pass is the process of distributing medications to an individual in a long-term care facility or other medical type setting. Incorporating Bar Code Technology, which implements electronic charting is a more accurate and more thorough way to document medications given. The use of Bar Code Medication Administration Technology will decrease the amount…
Errors made while administering medications are one of the most common patient safety, health care errors reported. It is estimated that 7,000 hospitals deaths yearly are attributed to medication administration errors, and each error can cost a health care organization over $8000 per occurrence. (Anderson & Townsend, 2015. p.18). Nurses spend a significant amount of time managing, preparing, and administering medications. Nurses can spend up to forty percent of their day, involved in tasks that center around medication administration (Bourbonnais & Caswell, 2014). Over the past few years, there has been an incredible amount of new technology introduced in health care that affect medication administration. Electronic health records, computerized order entry, smart pumps, and bar-code medication charting all add complexity to the task of medication administration. Bar-code medication administration (BCMA) is one safety measure that can be implemented that can reduce medication administration safety errors and adverse…
Electronic medical records act as an important factor in falling medical errors and increasing patient satisfaction. Electronic medical records keep a patient’s whole medical history. Physicians are capable to retrieve patient’s data at the click of a mouse. Data is accessible in real time, clinical imageries are freely accessible and a patient’s prescription description can be acquired at a more extemporaneous speed. Electronic medical records structures are top of the line software collections that cost thousands of dollars to carry out and sustain, but are worth every cent. To have medical records freely accessible to protect a life is invaluable. Electronic medical records are an advantage to patients. Margaret Richards states in her research that in the year 2000, there were an estimated 44,000 to 98,000 Americans who perished due to medical errors was reported by the Institute of Medicine (Richards, 2009). Possessing the capability to retriever patients’ records electronically has trimmed down hand writing mistakes, prescription mistakes and diagnosis…
Implementing a new electronic health records (EHR) system to replace manual records is an extremely complicated task. EHRs use complex algorithms to exchange patient data among different physicians and departments such as a pharmacy and laboratory. EHRs are becoming popular because employees and patients can access records anytime and anywhere. Patient drug alerts are also part of the system to warn emergency room and intensive care nurses about potential…
It is sometimes difficult to streamline the workflow process. Change is a limiting factor and can be difficult for some people. The Financial Cost and Return on Investment (ROI) to purchasing, implementing, supporting and maintaining the system can be challenging for smaller clinical practices. Change in management is a challenge especially in a busy facility where health care staff are used the current management system and have to transition from paper-based prescriptions to e-prescribing. Hardware and software selection. Choosing the right hardware and software applications is also challenging. Issues with Integrity of data input. The issues with Security and Privacy poses a problem. The inability to use electronic prescribing when the System Down and fallbacks procedures and mechanisms must be established (Salmon & Jiang,…
As nurses rely on a significant amount of knowledge daily, informatics plays a fundamental role in enhancing work knowledge. A few days ago, I received a new physician order for medication of which I had no knowledge. Due to a current facility policy prohibiting the use of personal electronic devices, such as cell phones, PDAs, laptops, and tablets, I turned to a drug reference book for research of the new medication.…
The clinical information system application that I feel I would recommend that the accountable care organization start with to maximize its potential to improve quality and exceed CMS’ performance criteria is electronic medical record because it is better upgraded for the safety of a patient and intensify health quality and it also lower cost. An electronic health record is also a digital documentation of an individual's medical history that is maintained by health professionals and official agencies. Electronic medical record is medical records of patients and has official permission and approval to be viewed by those who work as a professional employee in the health care facility. Physicians’ offices, medical health professional, and hospitals are the one to use electronic medical record the most because this allows them to look into the computer files and retrieve any patient record and medication record. Health care organization can input or view patient records, communication, legal documents, billing and quality management (Wagner, Lee, Glaser & Burn 2009). CPOE system is a system that helps lower mistakes when there is poor handwriting of a written or printed representation of medication prescriptions. CPOE systems are a plan drawn out design to imitate the sequence of industrial, administrative, or other processes through which work passes from initiation to completion of the paper chart. CPOE systems frequently used in two or more electronic prescribing a technology framework that prescriptions that give the necessary time or opportunity for physicians and other medical practitioners to write and send prescriptions to a part taking pharmacy electronically instead of using things written by hand or faxed notes or calling in prescriptions that give the necessary time or opportunity which alerts physicians and clinics to an individual drug, or important medication. Wager, K.A., Lee, F.W., Glaser, J.P., Burns, L.R. (2009). Health care information…