Applications of Computers in Pharmacy
Computer are now a days used in pharmaceutical in industries, hospitals and in various departments for drug information, education, evaluation, analysis, medication history and for maintenance of financial records. They have become indispensable in the development of clinical pharmacy, hospital pharmacy and pharmaceutical research. Computers are also useful for patient profile monitoring, medication, database management and material management. It is useful in providing on drug interactions, drug information services and patient counseling.
APPLICATIONS OF COMPUTER IN HOSPITAL PHARMACY:
• As more hospital pharmacies move in the direction of computer access, the profession must identify more clinical applications for computer programming. The use of computers has demonstrated the potential to decrease adverse events, preserve financial and medical resources, and improve patient management.
• The diffusion of computer technology in hospital pharmacy departments was studied by surveying pharmacy directors in a randomly selected sample of 501 hospitals in the United States with at least 100 beds. Pharmacy directors were asked to indicate for which of 17 tasks a computer or memory typewriter was used in the pharmacy department. The time of first adopting computers in the department was compared with the predicted S adoption curve; adoption time was also correlated with characteristics of the hospital, pharmacy, and pharmacy director. Of the 417 respondents, 308 reported use of a memory typewriter or computer in the pharmacy
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• The computer is becoming the key factor of hospital pharmacy practice. Enhancement of computer technology is essential to assist the hospital pharmacist in keeping all relevant data in order to provide optimal oversight of drug therapy. As more data become available on drugs, the factor which place the patient at risk for developing reactions to drug, pharmacist must place less reliance on committing all facts to memory and recognize that the computer is a necessary solution to optimizing patient care.
• Handwriting interpretation errors are estimated to cause 9% of all medication errors. Although electronic prescribing (e-Rx) is finally well underway in the United States, it has for several years been the norm in many European countries. As recommended by the federal government and other national health care improvement organizations, the use of electronic prescribing applications in pediatric practice should be encouraged. The Institute of Medicine has recommended that all prescriptions be written electronically by the year 2010. It is estimated that 20% of U.
Springfield General Hospital (SGH) is committed to high quality healthcare for patients, and providing tools to support physicians, nurses and pharmacists. SGH leadership approved the computerized physician order entry (CPOE) system as a solution to reduce prescription errors, and the results of the CPOE project are disappointing. The data show increased prescribing errors after implementing the CPOE; resulting in increased costs for adverse drug events, rather than the planned cost reduction (Spector, 2013). This change management plan provides the SGH board of directors and executive management team pragmatic steps to increase quality for patients by assessing the root issue of hospital
The use of the PDA has found a place in the general life of the public but also has become an essential part of many professions. The medical and nursing professions have embraced this technology as well. Due to the ease of programming of the PDA, many programs for use in the medical community have been developed for that operating system. According to Hunt, in 2002 an estimated 18 percent of physicians and only 1 percent, approximately 25,000, of all nurses were using the PDA in their practices.
Studies by Jha et al. examined surveys completed by the 2010 American Hospital Association Annual Information Technology of 2902 hospitals’ readiness for Meanin...
Pharmacy is highly regulated and must of the data is already in electronic form, data review is much easier. Reviewing the drugs that are being administered and possibly steering usage away from high cost brand drugs to lower cost generic drugs can lead to a reduction in costs without a decrease in health outcome. Simply stated, health outcomes are improved when a healthcare provider has a complete access to all records for the patient and when those records are enhanced with information such as drug interactions and dosing calculation among other things, patient safety can also be improved (AHA,
This technology assist the nurse in confirming patients identify by confirming the patients’ dose, time and form of medication (Helmons, Wargel, & Daniels, 2009). Having an EHR also comes with a program that allows the medical staff to scan medications so medication errors can be prevented. According to Helmons, Wargel, and Daniels (2009) they conducted an observational study in two medical –surgical units one in the medical intensive care (ICU) and one in the surgical ICU. The researchers watched 386 nurses within the two hospitals use bar code scanning before they administrated patients’ medications. The results of the research found a 58 % decrease in medication errors between the two hospitals because of the EHR containing a bar code assisted medication administration
Overview: E-prescribing systems enable the electronic transmissions of prescriptions to pharmacies from the provider's office. The promise of e-prescribing in regard to patient safety is reduction in the time gap between point of care and point of service, reduction in medication errors, and improved quality of care. This paper will give a brief overview concentrating on the reduction in medication errors and the challenges that remain with electronic prescriptions.
Many medication errors occur due to abbreviated words symbols, and dosage that cant be read and become misunderstood. These mistakes can cause harm if no one notices it. Many patients end up with a life threatening problem due to a medical error. A nurse might give the patient the wrong dose because of the handwritten abbreviation the doctor wrote is not clear. Many abbreviations are similar and this can cause complication. If abbreviations are similar the best thing to do is write the abbreviation completely out and always ask if not sure. Providing unabbreviated prescriptions, communication, and writing all abbreviations out can reduce errors in the healthcare setting. Another consideration would be to make sure in the healthcare setting written policies are mentioned and used.
Implementing technology in a clinical setting is not easy and cannot be successful without a well-organized system. It is important that healthcare providers understand the electronic medication administration record (eMAR) and its role in improving patient safety. One of the most significant aspects of healthcare is the safety of our patients. Medication errors account for 44,000-98,000 deaths per year, more deaths than those caused by highway accidents or breast cancer. Several health information technologies help to reduce the number of medication errors that occur. Once of these technologies is bar-code-assisted medication administration (BCMA). These systems are designed to ensure that the right drug is being administered via the right
The Medication Administration Accuracy Project is a quality improvement project, whose purpose is to improve the accuracy of nursing medication administration. The study used for this project was to find where the most common “wrong doings” happened in the medication process and how to get rid of it. After a year of this project the medication error percent went from 4.3% in 2010 to 1.2% in 2011. The Bar Code Administration System implementation had been very successful with a 95% success rate every year that it is done. The study provided important insight on reducing the medication errors in children. Some were: making sure there are no distractions as possible, double checking medications and making sure the dose in adequate range for the child, and making sure you have two ways of identification with the bar code scanning (Hardmeier, A., Tsourounis, C., Moore, M., Abbott, W., Guglielmo, J.
Chun-Ju Hsiao, P. a. (2014, January 17). Use and Characteristics of Electronic Health Record Systems Among Office-based Physician Practices: United States, 2001–2013. Retrieved April 24, 2014, from CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db143.htm
In 2009 President Obama, through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, pledged to provide incentives to the nation’s physicians and hospitals to convert to an electronic healthcare system in attempt to improve the quality of care and reduce cost (Freudenheim, 2010). By converting to an electronic system, we have the opportunity for improved communication between all healthcare providers and decreased cost to our healthcare system. The goal is to improve communication across all aspects of the service chain (Horan, Botts & Burkhard, 2010). Almost two years later, the conversion progress continues to be slow. Only one in four physician’s offices, mostly large groups, have implemented the electronic record system (Freudenheim, 2010).
Electronic-prescribing, often referred to as e-prescribing, is a fairly new, innovative way for physicians and other medical personnel to prescribe medications and keep track of patients’ medical history. Not only has e-prescribing enabled prescribers to electronically send a prescription to the patients’ pharmacy of choice, in the short amount of time it has been available, it has significantly reduced health care costs, not only for the patient, but for the medical facilities as well. In 2003, e-prescribing was included in the Medicare Modernization Act (MMA) which jumpstarted the role of e-prescribing in healthcare. It has proven to significantly reduce the yearly number medication errors and prescription fraud, and its widespread publicity has helped build awareness of e-prescribing’s role in enhancing patient safety. Although it has not been in practice for very long, e-prescribing has already made a positive impact in the field of health care.
medications is more than the act of getting drugs to a patient. The delivery of medication is directly tied to the charge for the medication. Thus the responsibility for charging or crediting medication belongs to technicians. This aspect of their job is strictly governed by federal regulations. These laws hold the technician directly responsible for the accuracy of a patient’s account’s charge and credit transactions. Because every dose is related to a specific day and time, when technicians credit they must apply that change to the corresponding dose. Assignificant as accuracy is to the patient’s account, accuracy in the making of their medications is even more important.
O’Shea, E (1999) Factors contributing to medication errors: a literature review. Journal of Clinical Nursing. 8, 5,496-503.
Will, L. ed., 2010. Technology and the Future of Pharmacy: A Roundtable Discussion. Computer Talk for the Pharmacist, [online] 30(3), 20-36. Available at: [Accessed on 11 November 2011]