@article{8627,
  author = {Frank H. Morriss and Paul W. Abramowitz and Steven Nelson and Gary Milavetz and Stacy L. Michael and Sara N. Gordon and Jane F. Pendergast and Francis Cook},
  title = {Effectiveness of a barcode medication administration system in reducing preventable adverse drug events in a neonatal intensive care unit: a prospective cohort study.},
  abstract = {<p><b>OBJECTIVE: </b>Patients are at risk of harm from medication errors. Barcode medication administration (BCMA) systems are recommended to mitigate preventable adverse drug events (ADEs). Our hypothesis was that a BCMA system would reduce preventable ADEs by 45% in a neonatal intensive care unit.</p><p><b>STUDY DESIGN: </b>We conducted a prospective, observational, cohort study of a BCMA system intervention in a neonatal intensive care unit. Participants were admitted neonates during 50 weeks. Medication errors and potential or preventable ADEs were detected by a daily structured audit of each subject's medical record, with assignment of an event as a preventable ADE made by blinded assessors. The generalized estimating equation method was used in modeling the targeted, preventable ADE rate with covariates.</p><p><b>RESULTS: </b>A total of 92,398 medication doses were administered to 958 subjects. The generalized estimating equation method yielded a relative risk of preventable ADE when the system was implemented of 0.53 (95% confidence limits 0.29 to 0.91, P = .04), adjusted for log(10)doses of medication/subject/day, a significant predictive covariate (P < .001), as well as for birth weight, sex, Caucasian race, birth cohort number, and nursing hours/subject/day.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION: </b>The BCMA system reduced the risk of targeted, preventable ADEs by 47%, controlling for the number of medication doses/subject/day, an important risk exposure.</p>},
  year = {2009},
  journal = {J Pediatr},
  volume = {154},
  pages = {363-8, 368.e1},
  month = {03/2009},
  issn = {1097-6833},
  doi = {10.1016/j.jpeds.2008.08.025},
  language = {eng},
}