Milestone Three: The Importance of Bar Code Medication Administration
1
Milestone Three: The Importance of Bar Code Medication
Administration Alexis Morales
11/21/2017
Milestone Three: The Importance of Bar Code Medication Administration
“Patient safety is the major concern since Institute of Medicine published “To Err is
Human”. Medication errors raised health care profession awareness of this critical issue in
patient safety. Giving medicine to patients is a frequently performed activity by nurses in the
medical centers. Researchers found that nurses spent 16.9-26.9% of their time on medication-
related activities” (Tsai, Sun & Taur, 2010, p. 682). Bar code medication administration
(BCMA) conditions us as nurses to follow the five rights of medication administration: right
medication, right client, right dose, right time, and right route. This can reduce medication errors
and therefore decrease the chance of harming patients. “Bar-code verification technology is used
as a strategy for reducing medication errors. It does so by guiding users through the appropriate
medication verification process, recording medication administration data correctly, and alerting
the users to potential errors, all at the patient’s bedside” (Bowers et al., 2015, p. 503).
This study source was downloaded by 100000829907498 from CourseHero.com on 08-28-2021 20:23:46 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/27799510/Milestone-3docx/
, MILESTONE THREE: THE IMPORTANCE OF BAR 2
CODE
Evidence on Patient Safety
There is much evidence that bar code medication administration reduces medication
errors and in turn protects patients. “One veterans hospital decreased medication errors by 23%
in the first year using BCMA and by 66% after using BCMA for 5 years” (Tsai, Sun & Taur,
2010, p. 682). The majority of medication errors occur when medications are incorrectly
administered at the bedside. BCMA is a technology that was developed to verify these
medications and ensure that the right medications are being administered to the right patient, at
the right time, by the right route, and for the right reason. “According to the Institute of
Medicine, each year medication errors result in more than 7000 deaths and harm at least 1.5
million people, at a cost of $3.5 billion” (Song, Park & Oh, 2015, p. 157). In hospitals, nurses
are usually taking care of anywhere from 5-8 patients on average. It is difficult to be 100%
vigilant at all times and without BCMA, nurses would not be alerted to certain potential errors.
BCMA is a supportive tool that allows us to keep our patients safe.
Improvements on Patient Safety Outcome
Proper identification is vital when whether patients are being admitted or operated on,
receiving medications or meals, or having labs collected. From a safety perspective, there is no
questions that BCMA should be used to verify the five rights of medication administration. The
evidence of patient safety outcomes is overwhelming and should be considered when resistance
to BCMA is found. “For example, a study at the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital
(Morriss et al., 2009) found that BCMA reduced preventable adverse drug events (ADEs) in a
neonatal intensive care unit by 47%. A study in the Journal of Nursing Administration (Poon et
al, 2008) reported that the time nurses spent providing direct patient care increased after
implementation of a BCMA system. And research published by the Society for Academic
Emergency Medicine (Bonkowski et al, 2013) associated BCMA implementation in the
emergency department with
1
Milestone Three: The Importance of Bar Code Medication
Administration Alexis Morales
11/21/2017
Milestone Three: The Importance of Bar Code Medication Administration
“Patient safety is the major concern since Institute of Medicine published “To Err is
Human”. Medication errors raised health care profession awareness of this critical issue in
patient safety. Giving medicine to patients is a frequently performed activity by nurses in the
medical centers. Researchers found that nurses spent 16.9-26.9% of their time on medication-
related activities” (Tsai, Sun & Taur, 2010, p. 682). Bar code medication administration
(BCMA) conditions us as nurses to follow the five rights of medication administration: right
medication, right client, right dose, right time, and right route. This can reduce medication errors
and therefore decrease the chance of harming patients. “Bar-code verification technology is used
as a strategy for reducing medication errors. It does so by guiding users through the appropriate
medication verification process, recording medication administration data correctly, and alerting
the users to potential errors, all at the patient’s bedside” (Bowers et al., 2015, p. 503).
This study source was downloaded by 100000829907498 from CourseHero.com on 08-28-2021 20:23:46 GMT -05:00
https://www.coursehero.com/file/27799510/Milestone-3docx/
, MILESTONE THREE: THE IMPORTANCE OF BAR 2
CODE
Evidence on Patient Safety
There is much evidence that bar code medication administration reduces medication
errors and in turn protects patients. “One veterans hospital decreased medication errors by 23%
in the first year using BCMA and by 66% after using BCMA for 5 years” (Tsai, Sun & Taur,
2010, p. 682). The majority of medication errors occur when medications are incorrectly
administered at the bedside. BCMA is a technology that was developed to verify these
medications and ensure that the right medications are being administered to the right patient, at
the right time, by the right route, and for the right reason. “According to the Institute of
Medicine, each year medication errors result in more than 7000 deaths and harm at least 1.5
million people, at a cost of $3.5 billion” (Song, Park & Oh, 2015, p. 157). In hospitals, nurses
are usually taking care of anywhere from 5-8 patients on average. It is difficult to be 100%
vigilant at all times and without BCMA, nurses would not be alerted to certain potential errors.
BCMA is a supportive tool that allows us to keep our patients safe.
Improvements on Patient Safety Outcome
Proper identification is vital when whether patients are being admitted or operated on,
receiving medications or meals, or having labs collected. From a safety perspective, there is no
questions that BCMA should be used to verify the five rights of medication administration. The
evidence of patient safety outcomes is overwhelming and should be considered when resistance
to BCMA is found. “For example, a study at the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital
(Morriss et al., 2009) found that BCMA reduced preventable adverse drug events (ADEs) in a
neonatal intensive care unit by 47%. A study in the Journal of Nursing Administration (Poon et
al, 2008) reported that the time nurses spent providing direct patient care increased after
implementation of a BCMA system. And research published by the Society for Academic
Emergency Medicine (Bonkowski et al, 2013) associated BCMA implementation in the
emergency department with
