ARTICLE
Streamlining for Safety: Barcode Medication Administration for Intravenous Medications James Waterson. RN, M.Med.Ed. Medication Safety Manager, Medical Affairs. Becton Dickinson. Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa. James.waterson@bd.com Radwa Elsawah. RPh. Product Manager. Medication Management Solutions. Becton Dickinson. Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa. Larry Neal. Regional Marketing Manager, Medication Management Solutions.Becton Dickinson. Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa.
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otential errors of Wrong Patient, Wrong Medication, Wrong Dose, Wrong Documentation, and Wrong Time can all take place at the bedside, and among all the stages of the medication chain -from prescription to administration- medication errors which occur at the point of administration are the most prevalent at 68% of all IV medication errors. And with only a 2% chance of detection of error, in terms of Failure Mode Effect Analysis (FMEA) the IV administration process consistently scores as a high-risk activity by virtue of this difficulty of detection, with a Detectability Score of 10 (0 = Minimum Harm Risk – 10 = Maximum Harm Risk) commonly being applied by organizations utilizing FMEA. This is the dangerous ‘gap’ that Connected Compounding Solutions and Interoperability Capable Infusion Pumps can close, as they effectively loop back IV medication administration directly to the original prescription and ensure completion of the documentation of administration. This can be achieved by bidirectional-interoperability capable IV pumps through direct communication with the patient’s Electronic Medical Record (EMR):
The barcode on the IV medication bag or syringe triggers this communication during a
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process of scanning the Patient’s ID band, scanning the medication to be given, and scanning the barcoded unique identifier of the IV pump. The pump is then triggered to communicate with the EMR and the confirmation with the Computerized Provider Ordering Entry system allows for auto-population of the pump with an order string that carries the correct dose, duration or rate, correct volume of the IV bag and the patient ID. This is truly streamlined safety as it can also reduce the time spent programming the pump by over 80%, and healthcare needs streamlining badly. Up to 38% of a nurse’s time is spent on non-value added activities and these non-value costs can take millions of dollars per year out of an organization’s budget. The hospital pharmacy is central to the above workflow as it is here where the order
WITH INTEGRATION, PHYSICIAN PRESCRIPTIONS CAN BE RECEIVED ELECTRONICALLY INTO THE PHARMACY FOR VERIFICATION, AND IF APPROVED, FOR PUSHCOMMUNICATION TO THE COMPOUNDING UNIT.
