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Search results for "Hospitals"

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Journal Article > Review

A safe practice standard for barcode technology.

Leung AA, Denham CR, Gandhi TK, et al. J Patient Saf. 2015;11:89-99.

Barcode technology has been advocated as a strategy to reduce medication errors. This narrative review explored barcoding solutions applied in various care settings and found that they resulted in notable reductions of transcription, dispensing, and administration errors. The authors recommend standards for successful implementation of barcode technology systems.

Web Resource > Government Resource

National Comparative Audit of Blood Transfusion.

National Blood Service Hospitals.

This Web site includes reports from audits on compliance with blood transfusion guidelines in the United Kingdom.

Journal Article > Review

Medication safety in the operating room: literature and expert-based recommendations.

Wahr JA, Abernathy JH III, Lazarra EH, et al. Br J Anaesth. 2017;118:32-43.

This Delphi study examined 138 recommendations, generated from a review of 74 studies, regarding medication safety in the operating room. Using a consensus process, investigators determined 35 practices that can be implemented in the operative setting, including medication reconciliation and barcoding.

Book/Report

Electronically Generated Medication Administration and Electronic Medication Administration Records for the Prevention of Medication Transcription Errors: Review of Clinical Effectiveness and Safety.

Ottawa, ON: Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health; 2016.

Use of medication administration technologies can reduce transcription errors. This review examined computerized order entry systems, barcode medication administration systems, and other tools that can prevent medication transcription errors.

Journal Article > Study

Reduction in hospital-wide clinical laboratory specimen identification errors following process interventions: a 10-year retrospective observational study.

Ning HC, Lin CN, Chiu DTY, et al. PLoS One. 2016;11:e0160821.

Correct identification of patient specimens is crucial to timely and accurate diagnosis. This pre–post study demonstrated substantial improvements in already low rates of patient specimen identification errors following each of three successive strategies: discarding improperly labeled specimens, using barcodes, and automating specimen labeling.

Journal Article > Study

Provider risk factors for medication administration error alerts: analyses of a large-scale closed-loop medication administration system using RFID and barcode.

Hwang Y, Yoon D, Ahn EK, Hwang H, Park RW. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf. 2016;25:1387-1396.

Medication errors are a common source of patient harm. Although most mistakes occur during the prescribing and transcribing stages, errors during the administration process occur frequently as well. Investigators analyzed medication administration data for a hospital that had adopted a closed-loop medication administration system using radio-frequency identification, barcodes, and point-of-care devices. They found a medication administration error alert rate of 1.22% of total medication doses administered. Significant risk factors for alerts included emergency medications, administering medications at nonstandard times, number of doses being given, nurse experience, and working schedule. The authors conclude that the alerts helped mitigate patient harm by preventing medication administration errors.

Journal Article > Study

The role of radio frequency detection system embedded surgical sponges in preventing retained surgical sponges: a prospective evaluation in patients undergoing emergency surgery.

Inaba K, Okoye O, Aksoy H, et al. Ann Surg. 2016;264:599-604.

Retained surgical items are considered a preventable patient safety problem. In this implementation study, investigators used sponges embedded with radio frequency detection (RFD) in emergency surgeries. The RFD system identified sponges that would not have been detected, either because the sponge and instrument count was incorrect or because the count was not performed. These results argue for expanding the use of RFD sponges for emergency surgery.

Journal Article > Study

Effect of the implementation of barcode technology and an electronic medication administration record on adverse drug events.

Truitt E, Thompson R, Blazey-Martin D, NiSai D, Salem D. Hosp Pharm. 2016;51:474-483.

Barcode medication administration has been shown to improve medication safety. This pre–post study analyzed voluntary error reports at a single academic medical center and found that adverse drug events decreased after barcode medication administration was implemented, as seen in prior studies.

Newspaper/Magazine Article

Do not let "Depo-" medications be a depot for mistakes.

ISMP Medication Safety Alert! Acute Care Edition. March 24, 2016;21:1-4.

Confusion due to look-alike and sound-alike medications are known to contribute to medication errors. Describing errors associated with a certain medication naming convention, this newsletter article offers recommendations to reduce risks related to these drugs, including labeling clarifications, storing medications separately, barcode scanning, and staff education.

Journal Article > Study

Comparison of barcode scanning by pharmacy technicians and pharmacists' visual checks for final product verification.

Wang BN, Brummond P, Stevenson JG. Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2016;73:69-75.

In this study at a satellite pharmacy of a large academic hospital, barcode scanning by technicians was better at detecting dispensing errors than visual checking by pharmacists. This supports prior research showing that barcode scanning decreases dispensing errors and adverse drug events in the hospital.

Journal Article > Commentary

Creating a culture of safety around bar-code medication administration: an evidence-based evaluation framework.

Kelly K, Harrington L, Matos P, Turner B, Johnson C. J Nurs Adm. 2016;46:30-37.

Successful barcode medication administration implementation can reduce unintended consequences and workarounds related to poor system design. This commentary discusses an evaluation process that engages hospital leaders and frontline nurses in reviewing evidence, assessing practice, improving performance, and modifying processes to enhance the safety of barcoded medication use.

Journal Article > Study

Comparison of medication safety systems in critical access hospitals: combined analysis of two studies.

Cochran GL, Barrett RS, Horn SD. Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2016;73:1167-1173.

Medication errors are a well-recognized source of preventable patient harm and result from mistakes made during medication prescribing, transcribing, dispensing, and administration processes. This study looked at the impact of several factors on reducing medication errors in critical access hospitals. Investigators found that dispensing by an onsite pharmacist and the use of barcode technology for administration were both associated with a statistically significant reduction in medication errors.

Newspaper/Magazine Article

Patient Safety Supplement.

Middleton J, ed. Nursing Times and Health Service Journal. July 2015:s1-s20.

Drawing from presentations at an annual conference in the United Kingdom, articles in this supplement discuss barcode technologies, the Sign up to Safety campaign, and improvement initiatives in emergency surgery and mental health care.

Journal Article > Commentary

Preparing challenging medications for barcode scanning.

Waxlax TJ. Am J Health Syst Pharm. 2015;72:1089-1090.

Barcode scanning can reduce medication administration errors, but certain packaging and dosage formulations require special attention to ensure the process improves safety. This commentary draws from examples such as preparation of insulin and use of ampules to illustrate situations in which scanning errors may occur and recommends strategies to address them.

Journal Article > Review

Interventions for reducing medication errors in children in hospital.

Maaskant JM, Vermeulen H, Apampa B, et al. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2015;3:CD006208.

Exploring the literature on efforts to reduce medication errors in hospitalized children, this systematic review examined five interventions, including introduction of computerized provider order entry systems, clinical pharmacist participation in the frontline care team, and implementation of barcode medication administration systems. Although the interventions showed some success, none of the studies found a significant reduction in patient harm.

Journal Article > Study

Use of quality indicators to compare point-of-care testing errors in a neonatal unit and errors in a STAT central laboratory.

Cantero M, Redondo M, Martín E, Callejón G, Hortas ML. Clin Chem Lab Med. 2015;53:239-247.

In this study of a single neonatal unit, point-of-care testing resulted in many more quality errors compared to central laboratory testing. More than 45% of the point-of-care tests lacked appropriate patient identification, a problem the authors hope to fix by changing to a barcoding system in their hospital.

Newspaper/Magazine Article

A crack in our best armor: "wrong patient" injections from insulin pens alarmingly frequent even with barcode scanning.

ISMP Medication Safety Alert! Acute Care Edition. October 23, 2014;19:1-5.

Improper insulin pen use is a persistent problem. This newsletter article reveals the lessons learned from one hospital that implemented best practices including robust education, bar-code scanning, bedside electronic medication administration records, and alerts to prevent incorrect administration but continued to experience errors related to insulin pen use.

Journal Article > Commentary

How informatics nurses use bar code technology to reduce medication errors.

Gann M. Nursing. 2015;45:60-66.

Examining the literature around a set of competencies for nurses as users of health information technology in medication delivery, this commentary highlights the role of a nurse as barcode medication administration coordinator to help provide training in the use of necessary hardware and software, reduce workarounds that can hinder the effectiveness of health information technology, and address other problems and unintended consequences related to technologic innovations.

Journal Article > Study

Using Lean "automation with a human touch" to improve medication safety: a step closer to the "perfect dose."

Ching JM, Williams BL, Idemoto LM, Blackmore CC. Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf. 2014;40:341-350.

This study highlights the use of Lean methodologies to facilitate implementation of barcode medication administration (BCMA) for hospitalized patients at Virginia Mason Medical Center. The introduction of BCMA led to significantly fewer medication errors. The concepts presented may be helpful for organizations employing new health technologies.

Journal Article > Study

Pediatric medication administration errors and workflow following implementation of a bar code medication administration system.

Hardmeier A, Tsourounis C, Moore M, Abbott WE, Guglielmo BJ. J Healthc Qual. 2014;36:54-63.

After implementation of a barcode medication administration system at a children's hospital, adherence to institutional medication safety protocols was high and the incidence of medication administration errors appeared to be low based on direct observation.

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