How To Appropriate Safe Practices

However, there are issues with this system as well because the computer is only as smart as we allow it to be. If pharmacy puts in the computer the wrong medication or dose, or information is incorrect, the computer will still allow you to administer. It goes back to communication, knowing your patient and how important it is to still ask questions and have conversation with your patient about the medication you are about to give them. Read their history and physical to get a better idea of everything going on with your patient so we can continue to provide safe quality care.

Improved patient safety is the most essential advantage of the BCMA system. “On average a hospital patient is subjected to at least one medication error per day (IOM, 2006)”(Foote). BCMA significantly reduces medication errors that cause a compromise in patient safety. The BCMA verifies the five rights of medication administration before a patient receives a medication by the software alerting the nurse if there is a contraindication between the medicine scanned and the patient’s orders. A pilot study conducted at a 300-bed community hospital found that the BCMA system reduced medication errors by 80% (Foote). Fowler et al states that “decrease in errors related to the wrong patient was a direct result of the bar code system (Fowler).”

Problem. In modern-day acute care settings, interruptions occur as part of normal work flow. Technology driven task performance intermingles with interpersonal communication, patient care needs, medication administration and distraction within one’s mind. When a task requires attention to detail or a significant amount of our attention, an interruption can be devastating to a patient, the person carrying out the task and the facility they are employed within. In healthcare literature research, a consistent definition of the term interruption was difficult to ascertain. Identifying a consistent definition would support research designed to support a link between interruptions and medical error.

Keeping patients safe is essential in today’s health care system, but patient safety events that violate that safety are increasing each year. It was only recently, that the focus on patient safety was reinforced by a report prepared by Institute of medicine (IOM) entitled ” To err is human, building a safer health system”(Wakefield & Iliffe,2002).This report found that approx-imately 44,000 to 98,000 deaths occur each year due to medical errors and that the majority was preventable. Deaths due to medical errors exceed deaths due to many other causes such as like HIV infections, breast cancer and even traffic accidents (Wakefield & Iliffe, 2002). After this IOM reports, President Clinton established quality interagency

healthcare organization accrediting bodies, and to maintain credibility with patients and peers alike, must adhere to the National Patient Safety Goals. As stated by Ulrich and Kear (2014), "Not only are nurses responsible for providing safe patient care, we are also responsible for creating an environment in which others can provide safe patient care, and for being the last line of defense when needed between the patient and potential harm. Having a deep understanding of patient safety and patient safety culture allows nurses to be the leaders we need to be in ensuring that our patients are always

The pharmacy, nursing, and informatics department were required to be involved in implementing the bar-code-assisted medication administration (BCMA) patient safety initiative. The involvement of the informatics department was required for planning and coordination of the electronic medication administration record and the scanning devices. The nurses were administering the medications so they were required to undergo training on BCMA methods and the importance of BCMA implementation. Pharmacists were needed to assist nurses in case if a scanning error occurred. Pharmacy, nursing, and informatics staff members were responsible for evaluation of the BCMA system upon implementation.

Medication errors are among the most significant cause of patient injury in all types of medical errors (Johnson, Carlson, Tucker, & Willette, n.d). In the nursing profession, medication administration errors occur 34% of the time, second only to physician ordering errors (Gooder, 2011). The introduction of information technology, such as the Bar Code Medication Administration (BCMA), offers new opportunities for reducing medication administration errors. BCMA was developed by the Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center in 1998 to help improve the documentation of medication administration, decrease medication errors and provide

There are many other potential patient safety benefits from implementing a bar code-enabled point-of-care technology (BPOC) system in addition to reducing medication errors. When these systems are implemented to their fullest capability they can improve the safety of blood transfusions and laboratory specimen collections. Less obvious benefits, such as increased satisfaction of nurses in their daily work, can also be realized. The technology reduces the nurses' paperwork burden, freeing nurses to spend more time interacting with patients and providing higher-quality care. A BPOC system can also provide a sense of protection to nurses, easing the level of stress. In turn, this can reduce nursing turnover, a growing and increasingly expensive problem in

The National Patient Safety Goals were created in response to the IOM article, To Err is Human: Building Safer Health Systems. These goals were written to address patient safety and are tailored depending on the health care setting to which they are written for. They address system wide solutions rather than focusing on whom or how the error was made. Medical errors have been noted as being the 8th leading cause of death in the U.S. with the most frequent of these errors being medication related (Johnson, K., Bryant, C., Jenkins, M., Hiteshew, C., & Sobol, K. 2010). Therefore a great focus on these goals is needed across the health care continuum. The goals are updated and amended on a regular basis using evidence-based research, in response to areas with high errors in patient safety.

“Medication errors are a frequent and costly problem for hospitalized patients, and medication administration errors account for one-third of all medication errors” (Bonkowski, Carnes, Mirtallo, Reichert, & Weber, 2013, p. 802). Therefore, in return to the all the mistakes that were being made barcode-assisted medication administration was developed. It has been shown that when barcode-assisted medication administration is used properly and in compliance it improves errors by 40-70% in hospitalized patients (Bonkowski et al., 2013, p. 802). Therefore regarding non-compliance with barcode-assisted medication scanning, the nurses who pose a threat to the non-compliance need to be pointed out and dealt with on a first-hand basis. Nurses who start

While the use of barcode technology has had many applications in hospitals for quite some time it has only recently been used to address patient safety. Work (2005) views bar code technology as a particularly promising advance in the effort to reduce medical errors. Barcodes provide a valuable verification of medication administration by assuring that the "five rights" are confirmed: right patient, right medication, right dose, right time, and right route of administration. The use of barcode technology at the patient's bedside along with the use of no interruption zones further enhances accuracy in medication preparation and administration and has shown notable gains in reducing medication administration errors, which may account for as many as 7,000 deaths per year in U.S. hospital.

Answer: As a part of a high-reliably organization, I am committed to 200% accountability and safety as the number one goal. Over the past year as an Informaticist, I have consistently advocated for patient safety and safe workflows. As an example, a new staff endocrinologist made a request to update the Insulin Basal Bolus Correction order set that was not evidence-based. I met with the endocrinologist to review the current practice guidelines per America Diabetes and Endocrinology Associations. During our discussion. the endocrinologist did not realize that there was the ability within the order set to make the desired changes to individualize the care and orders

This article will be used for the statistical information and potential solutions to lessening interruptions. The sample size was a convenience sample and could be biased due to the Hawthorne effect. This article may bring attention to the unit nurses and the supervisors concerning the number and kinds of work interruptions that occur. Addressing work interruptions may lead to improved patient safety during medication rounds. This article highlighted potential work interruptions that require addressing in order to maximize safety.

Errors pervade in our lives whether it is our home, in our workplace, or in our society. The effects of healthcare errors have impacted all our lives either directly or indirectly. Patient safety and quality care are at the core of healthcare system which strongly depends upon nurses. “To achieve goals in patient safety and quality, thereby improve healthcare, nurses must assume the leadership role. Nurses need to ensure that they and other healthcare providers center healthcare on patients and their families. Even though the quality and safety of healthcare is heavily influenced by the complex nature

Nursing in today?s society involves more than technical skills, critical thinking, and compassion. It also is changing to add the ability to not only understand but be able to utilize technology to impact a patient?s health. There are many technological changes employed in healthcare practices, however, I have chosen to address bar-code medication administration or BCMA. According to an article in the Journal of Patient Safety, ?bar-code medication administration has been shown to be effective in reducing patient medical errors, yet is still only utilized in 5% of the country?s health care facilities? (Sands, Slebodnik, & Young, 2010). Medication errors are common in hospitals and often lead not only to patient harm, but also lengthy hospital stays and law suits. ?One study identified 6.5 adverse events related to medication use per 100 inpatient admissions, more than one fourth of these events were due to errors and were therefore preventable? (Bane, et. al., 2010).