Impact of Bar-code Medication Administration on Nursing Activity Patterns and Usage Experience in Taiwan

Abstract

As medication safety is a foremost goal of patient safety, the adoption of bar-code medication administration can help nurses ensure safe medication administration. The aims of the study were to explore the impact on nursing activity patterns of using this device and to understand the nurses' usage of this technology. The data collection was conducted in a medical center in northern Taiwan using work sampling observation and qualitative interviews. A total of 4940 observations were conducted on two groups of nurses who did or did not use the device, and six nurses were interviewed using a semistructured interview guide. The results showed that the nurses who used this device spent less time on medication-related activities and more on indirect care and unit-related activities, especially on the day and night shifts. Three themes were identified from the follow-up interviews: facilitating nursing workflow, improving medication safety, and encountering operational difficulties. Although the technology use could divert the nurses' practice patterns from medication-related activities to indirect care and unit-related activities, their direct care was not compromised. In addition, although the bar-code medication administration use could improve workflow and patient safety, hardware sufficiency and system functionality deserve more attention in the technology adoption process.

Effects of bar code-assisted medication administration (BCMA) on frequency, type and severity of medication administration errors: a review of the literature

“…Two studies determined the percentage of total nursing time spent on medication administration by using either the time and motion method 15 or the work sampling method. 18 No increase in medication administration time was found. Poon et al 19 reported a shift in the percentage of time spent on each medication administration task—for example, management of physician orders decreased but verifying patient identity and inefficient waiting increased.…”

The Effect of Barcode Technology Use on Pathology Specimen Labeling Errors

“…Huang mentioned that barcode technology may be used in health care facilities to improve workflow by reducing the time required for order entry, submitting new physician orders, and querying medication consultation. Patient safety may be enhanced via barcode technology by reducing transcription errors, providing order details, and strengthening patient identification confirmation . However, barcode technology may introduce operational difficulties, such as workflow changes, network disruption or failure, and label printing problems at the bedside …”

“…Patient safety may be enhanced via barcode technology by reducing transcription errors, providing order details, and strengthening patient identification confirmation . However, barcode technology may introduce operational difficulties, such as workflow changes, network disruption or failure, and label printing problems at the bedside …”

A Pharmacy Blueprint for Electronic Medical Record Implementation Success

“…[30][31][32][33][34] To ensure full adoption of the new technology and processes, an interdisciplinary pharmacy-nursing-IT team periodically rounds on the nursing units gathering feedback from end-users, evaluating workflow process changes, and resolving issues in a timely manner. Rounding frequency varies upon adoption rate and the volume and severity of issues.…”