Effect of bar-code technology on the safety of medication administration.

BACKGROUND: Serious medication errors are common in hospitals and often occur during order transcription or administration of medication. To help prevent such errors, technology has been developed to verify medications by incorporating bar-code verification technology within an electronic medication-administration system (bar-code eMAR). METHODS: We conducted a before-and-after, quasi-experimental study in an academic medical center that was implementing the bar-code eMAR. We assessed rates of errors in order transcription and medication administration on units before and after implementation of the bar-code eMAR. Errors that involved early or late administration of medications were classified as timing errors and all others as nontiming errors. Two clinicians reviewed the errors to determine their potential to harm patients and classified those that could be harmful as potential adverse drug events. RESULTS: We observed 14,041 medication administrations and reviewed 3082 order transcriptions. Observers noted 776 nontiming errors in medication administration on units that did not use the bar-code eMAR (an 11.5% error rate) versus 495 such errors on units that did use it (a 6.8% error rate)--a 41.4% relative reduction in errors (P<0.001). The rate of potential adverse drug events (other than those associated with timing errors) fell from 3.1% without the use of the bar-code eMAR to 1.6% with its use, representing a 50.8% relative reduction (P<0.001). The rate of timing errors in medication administration fell by 27.3% (P<0.001), but the rate of potential adverse drug events associated with timing errors did not change significantly. Transcription errors occurred at a rate of 6.1% on units that did not use the bar-code eMAR but were completely eliminated on units that did use it. CONCLUSIONS: Use of the bar-code eMAR substantially reduced the rate of errors in order transcription and in medication administration as well as potential adverse drug events, although it did not eliminate such errors. Our data show that the bar-code eMAR is an important intervention to improve medication safety. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00243373.)

Notes From the Field: A Voice-Activated Video Communication System for Nurses to Communicate With Inpatients With COVID-19.

With the relaxing of telehealth regulations through the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) waiver notification for Telehealth Remote Communications during the COVID-19 Nationwide Public Health Emergency, our organization had the opportunity to pilot an innovative virtual care solution using a modified consumer-grade voice-activated video communication system (Amazon Echo Show 8) within one inpatient COVID-19 unit. In this brief report, we describe our experiences with implementing the system and general feedback from clinicians, and discuss areas for future development required to enable future scaling of this solution. Our pilot demonstrates the feasibility of deploying a consumer-grade voice assistant device in COVID-19 patient rooms. We found the devices engaging due to the voice technologies and Alexa functionalities for both clinician and patient entertainment. To enable future deployment at scale, enhancements to the Echo Show and data analytics will need to be further explored.

Development of the Leapfrog Group's Bar Code Medication Administration Standard to Address Hospital Inpatient Medication Safety.

ABSTRACT: Medication errors are the most common type of error in hospitals and reflect a leading cause of avoidable harm to patients. Bar code medication administration (BCMA) systems are a technology designed to help intercept medication errors at the point of medication administration. This article describes the process of developing, testing, and refining a standard for BCMA adoption and use in U.S. hospitals, as measured through the Leapfrog Hospital Survey. Building on the published literature and an expert panel's collective experience in studying, implementing, and using BCMA systems, the expert panel recommended a standard with 4 key domains. Leapfrog's BCMA standard provides hospitals with a "how-to guide" on what best practice looks like for using BCMA to ensure safe medication administration at the bedside.

Description and Evaluation of the Implementation of a Weight-Based, Nurse-Driven Heparin Nomogram in a Tertiary Academic Medical Center.

Weight-based, nurse-driven heparin nomograms are reported in the medical literature to improve the time it takes to reach a minimum threshold for anticoagulation without compromising patient safety in specific indications or patient populations. This is the first report in the literature of an institution-wide protocol implementation and evaluation of effectiveness with simultaneous transition to an electronic health record. The purpose of implementing this practice change at our institution was to standardize practice, improve time to reach therapeutic anticoagulation, and improve patient safety. We conducted a retrospective analysis utilizing a pre/postimplementation design to compare outcomes. The primary end point evaluated was the time to reach minimum threshold value for therapeutic anticoagulation. Additionally, we assessed the percentage of patients who reached minimum threshold therapeutic anticoagulation within 24 hours, the percentage of patients with a critically supratherapeutic activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) value (≥120 seconds) during therapy, and a description of heparin titration for the first 4 aPTT results with nomogram use. Overall time to therapeutic anticoagulation decreased from a mean 18.7 to 11.7 hours (hazard ratio [HR] 1.59; 95% confidence interval 1.22-2.08; P < .0005). Percentage of patients receiving therapeutic anticoagulation within 24 hours increased from 74.4 to 88.5 (odds ratio [OR 2.97, P = .002) and the percentage of patients with an aPTT ≥120 seconds remained constant at 49.9 versus 46.8 (OR 0.92, P = .73). This practice change reduced time to therapeutic anticoagulation without an increase in the proportion of patients with a critically supratherapeutic aPTT at our institution.

Evaluation of Compliance with a Weight-based Nurse-driven Heparin Nomogram in a Tertiary Academic Medical Center.

BACKGROUND: Recently, our institution adopted a weight-based nurse-driven heparin titration protocol that relies on nurses ordering laboratories, adjusting doses, and initiating boluses. Numerous institutions have implemented similar protocols with reported success. METHODS: A single-center retrospective analysis was conducted at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts that included all patients who were initiated on the weight-based nurse-driven heparin nomogram during a 30-day period. Nomogram compliance was defined as the rate of correct titrations per nomogram encounter and further separated into laboratory, titration, or dosing compliance. Spearman's coefficient was utilized to determine the correlation between noncompliance and percentage of activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) values in range. RESULTS: Overall, 211 patients were evaluated for inclusion, of which 95 patients were determined to meet criteria for evaluation. The total nomogram compliance rate was 84.6% ± 10.5%. Laboratory, titration, and dosing compliances were 77.6% ± 19.2%, 87.2% ± 14.5%, and 91.8% ± 10.6%, respectively. The percent of aPTT values in therapeutic range was 39.6% ± 24.6%. A moderate negative correlation between the percentage of aPTT values in range and the nomogram error rate was observed (r = -0.452, P < 0.001). This relationship was found to be driven by the rate of dosing error, which showed the strongest correlation with percentage of aPTT values out of range (r = -0.465, P = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of a nurse-driven heparin titration nomogram relies on compliance with the prescribed protocol. Dosing compliance had the lowest error rate, whereas dosing noncompliance had the strongest impact on percentage of aPTT values in range.

A safe practice standard for barcode technology.

OBJECTIVE: Safety advocates have identified barcode verification technology as an important tool to improve health-care practices. METHODS: We evaluated the evidence for the role of barcode technology in improving a wide range of medication safety outcomes across a broad range of settings. Important implementation issues were highlighted to guide standards for the safe adoption of barcode technology. RESULTS: Adverse drug events are common, occurring frequently in both inpatient and outpatient settings. Although approximately half of all preventable adverse drug events in inpatients result from medication errors arising from transcription, dispensing, and administration, these errors are far less likely to be caught than in any of the earlier stages of the medication use process and are therefore most amenable to improvement. When integrated with electronic medication administration records, barcode systems are associated with complete elimination of transcription errors. Furthermore, barcode-assisted dispensing systems are associated with 93% to 96% reductions in dispensing errors, and 85% reductions in potential adverse drug events in dispensing. Most studies have reported large and significant reductions in administration errors by up to 80% after implementation of barcode medication administration systems. Although most studies of barcode technology have been conducted in the adult inpatient setting, the limited data available also support their benefit in pediatric and outpatient settings. CONCLUSIONS: There is growing evidence for the efficacy of barcode solutions in improving overall medication safety. Standards for the implementation of barcode technology are proposed.

Efficiency and usability of a near field communication-enabled tablet for medication administration.

BACKGROUND: Barcode-based technology coupled with the electronic medication administration record (e-MAR) reduces medication errors and potential adverse drug events (ADEs). However, many current barcode-enabled medication administration (BCMA) systems are difficult to maneuver and often require multiple barcode scans. We developed a prototype, next generation near field communication-enabled medication administration (NFCMA) system using a tablet. OBJECTIVE: We compared the efficiency and usability of the prototype NFCMA system with the traditional BCMA system. METHODS: We used a mixed-methods design using a randomized observational cross-over study, a survey, and one-on-one interviews to compare the prototype NFCMA system with a traditional BCMA system. The study took place at an academic medical simulation center. Twenty nurses with BCMA experience participated in two simulated patient medication administration scenarios: one using the BCMA system, and the other using the prototype NFCMA system. We collected overall scenario completion time and number of medication scanning attempts per scenario, and compared those using paired t tests. We also collected participant feedback on the prototype NFCMA system using the modified International Business Machines (IBM) Post-Study System Usability Questionnaire (PSSUQ) and a semistructured interview. We performed descriptive statistics on participant characteristics and responses to the IBM PSSUQ. Interview data was analyzed using content analysis with a qualitative description approach to review and categorize feedback from participants. RESULTS: Mean total time to complete the scenarios using the NFCMA and the BCMA systems was 202 seconds and 182 seconds, respectively (P=.09). Mean scan attempts with the NFCMA was 7.6 attempts compared with 6.5 attempts with the BCMA system (P=.12). In the usability survey, 95% (19/20) of participants agreed that the prototype NFCMA system was easy to use and easy to learn, with a pleasant interface. Participants expressed interest in using the NFCMA tablet in the hospital; suggestions focused on implementation issues, such as storage of the mobile devices and infection control methods. CONCLUSIONS: The NFCMA system had similar efficiency to the BCMA system in a simulated scenario. The prototype NFCMA system was well received by nurses and offers promise to improve nurse medication administration efficiency.

Evaluation of use of electronic patient controlled analgesia pumps to improve patient safety in an academic medical center.

Patient controlled analgesia (PCA) and Patient-controlled epidural analgesia (PCEA) pumps are methods of pain control with complex smart infusion devices and are widely used in hospitals. Smart PCA/PCEA pumps can be programmed with the dose and rate of medications within pre-set ranges. However, adverse effects have been reported associated with these pumps' use. In this paper, we describe a prevalence observational study where observers used an electronic data collection tool to record pump settings and medications with PCA pumps, corresponding medication orders to identify errors. The results showed that there were many labeling and tubing change tag errors, which were a violation of hospital policy. A few potential harmful medication errors were identified but no critical errors. Study results suggest the importance of a standard process of PCA pump use. Next steps include implementing a safety bundle for improving PCA practice to support safe and effective pain management.

Quantifying nursing workflow in medication administration.

New medication administration systems are showing promise in improving patient safety at the point of care, but adoption of these systems requires significant changes in nursing workflow. To prepare for these changes, the authors report on a time-motion study that measured the proportion of time that nurses spend on various patient care activities, focusing on medication administration-related activities. Implications of their findings are discussed.

Nurses' satisfaction with medication administration point-of-care technology.

Efforts to promote safe care prompted the development point-of-care technology, but successful adoption requires acceptance by nursing staff. To assess the satisfaction of nurses who use point-of-care technology that integrates nurse scanning of bar-coded medications with the patient's electronic medication administration record, the authors examined nurses' satisfaction with barcode/electronic medication administration record before and after introduction in an academic medical center.

Impact of barcode medication administration technology on how nurses spend their time on clinical care.

In a time-motion study conducted in a hospital that recently implemented barcode medication administration (BCMA) technology, we found that the BCMA system did not increase the amount of time nurses spend on medication administration activities, and did not compromise the amount of time nurses spent on direct care of patients. Our results should allay concerns regarding the impact of BCMA on nursing workflow.