Medication errors in hospitals are common and often lead to patient harm, contributing to increased costs and hospital length of stay. Bar-code medication administration can improve patient safety by leveraging technology to improve accuracy throughout the medication administration process. This study was designed to determine whether implementation of a bar-code medication administration process could improve the safety of medication administration. Researchers used a pre-post comparative design to describe the workflow process of nurses during medication administration before and after implementation of a pilot bar-code medication administration process. It was proposed that implementation of bar-code medication administration would increase real-time medication administration documentation, decrease medication administration-related errors, increase Workstation on Wheels usage at the bedside for medication administration, and increase use of the electronic medication administration record for medication retrieval. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize data and assess differences in distributions between preimplementation and postimplementation phases. There was a marked increase in use of the Workstation on Wheels at the bedside as well as real-time documentation. Use of the electronic medication administration record to retrieve medications did not increase after implementation. Medication errors showed a slight rate increase after bar-code medication administration was introduced.

Future research may increase understanding of relationships found in this study, and process improvement initiatives may provide targets for decreasing complexity of work patterns.

The advent of the electronic medical record has brought a new challenge to nursing education. Although most nursing students are proficient in data entry and computer skills, they often do not comprehend how the information they enter becomes a vital component of interdisciplinary team communication. Furthermore, the electronic medical record becomes a repository for information that can be retrieved for the purpose of decision support. Developed by the Cleveland Clinic, the Deans' Roundtable, and University Hospitals of Cleveland, the Student Nurse Portal provides a means of assisting the student to understand how data entered into the computer transforms into information and knowledge, resulting in the wisdom that enables healthcare workers to provide optimal patient care. Current courses present the purpose of the electronic medical record and its roleas a powerful communication tool, but future courses will also help the student develop data entry and retrieval skills. Hosted on the Cleveland Clinic servers and available to students around-the-clock from any computer with Internet access, students have found the Student Nurse Portal to be a valuable tool in preparing for the use of the electronic medical record during their clinical experiences.