Slide 2
Computerized medication administration has a wide range of benefits for both medical workers as well as patients. Clearly, the most important role of the medical institution is to be able to provide prospective patients with professional and safe environment.
Slide 3
There are different ways in which a computerized medication administration system can be used at our hospital. Some of them include the following:
a bar-coded medication administration system
ID bands and cards
electronic medication administration records
Slide 4
According to the findings, a bar-coded medication administration system can be very beneficial for the medical institution. In fact, it helps to prevent the occurrence of medication errors. Unfortunately, in the present time, the rate of the medical errors is very high. It was found that this number of deaths is approximately 44,000-98,000 per year (Sakowski, 2005). Slide 5
The main reason of numerous patients’ deaths is the wrong drug intake. In fact, at least 34% of these events occurred during the administration stage. Therefore, a bar-coded medication administration system will help to decrease the number of medication errors.Slide 6Let me explain what a bar-coded medication administration system means. A bar-coded medication administration system is the system, which was designed in order to make sure that the right drug will be taken by the right patient in the particular period of time. This process is also called as “five rights” of the medication administration (Sakowski, 2005). Slide 7
They “five rights” are:
the right patient
the right drug
the right time
the right amount
the right route (Sakowski, 2005).Slide 8
What are the benefits of a bar-coded medication administration system? It alerts the user with a potential problem; meantime, it decreases the rate of adverse drug intakes. Therefore, both doctors and patients can be more confident that such events as an adverse drug intake will not happen because everything is controlled by the computer. Slide 9
Clearly, there are both pros and cons of using computerized medication administration. One of the most frequent problems is called “Alert Fatigue” (Hunter, 2011). It can happen, in case the doctor is overusing the computer administration system. In particular, the user starts to simply ignore and override the alerts because he or she has been receiving them too many times.
Slide 10
Additionally, the other potential problem, which can occur, is the mistake made by a doctor. The best example is the situation in which despite the system alert, a doctor prescribes a particular drug either to the wrong patient or the wrong room. Thus, the lack of attention can lead to dangerous and lethal consequences. Slide 11
In conclusion, my suggestion is to start the computerized medication administration system because it can significantly decrease the rate of medical errors in our medical institution. Clearly, before developing the computerized system, it is of vital importance to provide both employees and patients with the necessary instructions regarding the usage and benefits of the system. Slide 12
They main benefits are the following:
a nurse is able to review all the shift reports quicker now
any information can be easily found in the system
the information about the medications is store in the electronic system and can be accessed by staff
Attending physicians can familiarize themselves wit the patient’s records much faster.
Medical students can use computerized system instead of writing numerous papers
The information about the patient’s medications can be reached online
Slide 13
References
Hunter, K. (2011). Implementation of an Electronic Medication Administration Record and Bedside Verification System. Online Journal Of Nursing Informatics, 15(2). Retrieved from http://ojni.org/issues/?p=672
Sakowski, J. (2005). Using a bar-coded medication administration system to prevent medication errors in a community hospital network. American Journal Of Health-System Pharmacy, 62(24), 2619-2625. http://dx.doi.org/10.2146/ajhp050138
