How Medication Scanning Helps Prevent Errors

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Table of Contents

PICOS question
Literature Review
Articles’ Analysis
Critical Gaps in Information
References

PICOS question

How does scanning medications prior to administration using EPIC EMR compared to not scanning medication on non-EPIC charting affect the number of medication errors using a quantitative study design?

Literature Review

Complications resulting from wrong medication prove the criticalness of prescription administration in the healing process and care quality. Drugs are chemical substances that work by altering patients’ physiological functioning. For example, a patient experiencing acute pain needs painkillers to heal, while someone with microbial infection requires anti-bacterial medication to become well. The patient needs to receive the right drug and the correct dosage for safety purposes. An overdose or under-dose often causes similar fatal effects as the administration of the wrong substances. Wrong medication affects the quality of care by prolonging hospital stays, causing disabilities, and even leading to prescription error-related deaths. Different interventions exist to avert medication mistakes, including computerized dispensing cabinets, closed-loop automated medication administration methods, and barcode medication administration. However, significantly limited scientific investigations exist to determine the approaches’ effectiveness in averting the targeted problem. The following is a literature review on the medication scanning approach’s effectiveness. The review forms the basis of a quantitative study on the effects of scanning prescriptions prior to administration using EPIC EMR on medication error prevalence.

A set of three scholarly sources form the literature review section of the targeted study focusing on the impact of medication scanning using EPIC EMR on medication inaccuracies. Such research works include Owens et al. (2020), Thompson et al. (2018), and Bowdle et al. (2018). The studies are selected based on their fitness to the intended investigation’s methodology and outcomes. Each of the three sources investigates barcodes’ effectiveness in promoting patients’ safety by eliminating medication mistakes. The inquiries further utilize the before-and-after intervention methodology selected for the targeted research, thus significantly suitable for background searches on medication scanning and qualitative inquiries. Getting the three sources involved using keywords such as scanning, drugs, EMR, medication errors, and quantitative study. Other specifications applied when searching the databases for relevant literature include the date and “peer-reviewed” settings for the scholarly articles. The following work analyzes the three scientific reports to pinpoint the appropriate materials for the intended study.

Articles’ Analysis

The barcode system offers an excellent medication management strategy for medics purposing to resolve prescription mistakes in emergency departments. Owens et al. (2020) investigate the approach’s usefulness in a busy emergency division registering significant cases of medication errors with severe effects on care quality. The scholars utilized the before-and-after research methodology over six months to gauge the strategy’s effectiveness. Moreover, Owens et al. (2020) adopt direct observations to parallel the rate of medication blunders before and three months after employing the barcode prescription administration plan. Owens et al.’s (2020) findings describe a seventy-four percent reduction in medicine supervision error rate a month after the strategy’s implementation. The investigators also report a significant rise in nurses’ job satisfaction a month after the system’s utilization (Owens et al., 2020). Consequently, Owens et al.’s (2020) successful utilization of the before-and-after investigation scheme and Fisher’s exact test to realize reliable results significantly informs the intended study’s methodology. The investigation aims to examine a similar subject and can benefit significantly by employing a practical tactic.

The barcode system also holds a significant potential to eliminate prescription errors in inpatient settings. Thompson et al. (2018) investigate the techniques’ ability to improve the patients’ five medication rights and avert wrong medicine-related harm. Accordingly, Thompson et al. (2018) investigate willingly reported medication-related hostile events among medics from 2007 through 2013, before and after the barcode system implementation. Furthermore, the scholars utilize figures regarding recorded medication faults, instead of perceived mistakes, for the analysis. Thompson et al.’s (2018) findings indicate about forty-four percent of prescription errors’ were reduction after the BCMA strategy. Moreover, the investigation provides about a fifty-five percent reduction in tangible patient injury due to the medication scanning plan. Accordingly, the BCMA system promotes the right drug, precise dose, and correct patient aspects to cause the registered improvement (Thompson et al., 2018). Similarly, Thompson et al. (2018) utilize the before-and-after mediation methodology to deliver reliable findings and conclusions successfully. The study determines the specific errors that drug scanning can resolve in the medication process. Therefore, such facets provide the necessary background for the planned research as they inform the methodology and other crucial features.

Medication scanning is responsible for eliminating prescription errors in anesthetic drugs. Bowdle et al. (2018) studied the technique’s effectiveness in reducing vial swaps, dosage mistakes, and patient confusion. The research lasted for two years, between 2014 and 2015, and applied the afore-and-afterward tactic to compare the mistakes’ prevalence before and after the scanning strategy. According to the investigations, using this strategy leads to over twenty percent drop in medication booboos and patients’ sufferings. The study’s small sample size leads to Fisher’s exact test utilization, informing the planned investigations’ methodology. Furthermore, Bowdle et al. (2018) introduce a substantially vital concept regarding the need to train medics on medication scanning and basic computer skills for successful barcode scanning intervention. The observation concurs with the current hospitals’ experiences, where many physicians shun new technology due to the lack of know-how and the fear of committing mistakes.

Critical Gaps in Information

Various investigations concerning medication scanning and the strategy’s potential to resolve prescription issues and promote patients’ safety offer positive findings. For example, the three articles covered earlier report a significant reduction in mistakes, thus enabling the tactic’s utilization in medical facilities. However, several issues remain uncovered by studies focusing on the subject. Perhaps, many scientific investigations using data to promote barcode scanning’s adoption in hospitals do not examine the problem caused by drugs lacking barcodes, those whose codes use unconventional formats, and medications with broken barcodes. The matter leads to significant gaps worth appreciating during studies of this nature. Therefore, the proposed research aims to acknowledge these breaches and other practical issues involved in the technique’s adoption for comprehensiveness.

References

Bowdle, T. A., Jelacic, S., Nair, B., Togashi, K., Caine, K., Bussey, L., & Merry, A. F. (2018). Facilitated self-reported anesthetic medication errors before and after implementation of a safety bundle and barcode-based safety system. British Journal of Anesthesia, 121(6), 1338-1345.

Owens, K., Palmore, M., Penoyer, D., & Viers, P. (2020). The effect of implementing bar-code medication administration in an emergency department on medication administration errors and nursing satisfaction.Journal of Emergency Nursing, 46(6), 884-891.

Thompson, K. M., Swanson, K. M., Cox, D. L., Kirchner, R. B., Russell, J. J., Wermers, R. A., & Naessens, J. M. (2018). Implementation of bar-code medication administration to reduce patient harm.Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Innovations, Quality & Outcomes, 2(4), 342-351.

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How Medication Scanning Helps Prevent Errors

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