When prescribing or retailing medications to patients, one of the premiere concerns of both pharmacists and doctors is the possibility of a drug interaction. In simple terms, a drug interaction is the result of a patient experiencing symptoms or side effects due to the interaction between the ingredients of two or more medicines. Historically, both pharmacists and doctors kept vast personal records of their patients in order to prevent this mishap from occurring. However, in more modern times, medical practitioners across the board, more specifically pharmacists, have relied on computers to track the majority of these drug interactions, simplifying their task.
Today, medicines are being prescribed to patients by doctors at record higher rates in the United States than ever before. The variety of professions that are able to prescribe medications has increased significantly. To further complicate matters, the amount and variety of drugs available at pharmacies are also at historical highs. These circumstances will inevitably lead to situations in which a doctor, pharmacist, nurse practitioner or physician assistant may unknowingly prescribe a medicine that somehow interferes with another medicine which the patient is already receiving. Computers were first introduced into the world of pharmacy in 1974, and since 1983, wide usage of computers had began to help eradicate this possible mistake.
When a patient's medication may possibly interfere with another medication they are currently taking, most computers utilized by modern chain pharmacies have the ability to indicate a DUR, which is a situation in which the computer is requesting the supervising pharmacist to review the their decision to dispense the drug to the patient...
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...es to utilize technology that is as up-to-date as the rest of the medical field. It would greatly reduce the possibility of error if doctors, physician's assistants, and other prescribing practitioners also developed better methods, such as the DUR model already incorporated by pharmacies. Doing so would create a greater efficiency in prescribing and dispensing the correct medications and greatly influence the efficacy of medicine without creating any drug interactions.
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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
Lund, N., & Kass, L.R. (2013). Medication error reduction and the use of PDA technology
However, Mr. Williams shares with the CPOE model physicians can digitally write a script, look up patient DRG list, DRG interactions, DRG reactions, and DRG allergies. The CPOE model reduces more information to make a sound educated decision to provide quality service and care to patients. Computer Physician Order Entry (CPOE) “provides the most advanced implementations of such systems that provide real-time clinical decision support such as dosage and alternative medication suggestions, duplicate therapy warnings, and drug-drug and drug allergy interaction checking” (Glandon, Slovensky, and
Responsibility and accountability become important when medical staff gives or doses patients with medication. The chance for making a medication error presents itself at all times. Those passing medications must follow established policies and procedures developed and laid forth by t...
The main quality initiative affected by this workaround is patient safety. The hospital switched to computer medication administration as opposed to paper medication administration documentation because it is supposed to be safer. So, when the nurse gets the “wrong medication” message the computer thinks something is wrong, this is a safety net that is built into the computer system. If the nurse were just to administer the medication without any further checks, he or she would be putting patient safety on the line. The policy involved that pertains to this workaround is the “8 rights of medication administration”, which are: right patient, right medication, right dose, right route, right time, right documentation, right reason, and right response (LippincottNursingCenter®, 2011). Each nurse it taught these eight rights of medication administration in nursing school, therefore it is a nursing policy. When this workaround occurs the nurse should use his/her judgment before “scan overriding” and ensure these eight checks before administering the
Nurses are expected to provide a competent level of care that is indicative of their education, experience, skill, and ability to act on agency policies or procedures. In a study of 1,116 hospitals Bond, Raehl, and Franke (2001) found, “Medication errors occurred in 5.07% of the patients admitted each year to these hospitals. Each hospital experienced a medication error every 22.7 hours (every 19.73 admissions). Medication errors that adversely affected patient care outcomes occurred in 0.25% of all patients admitted to these hospitals/year”(p. 4). This means at least one medication error occurs every 24 hours in those facilities studied, and these are preventable errors. The main responsibilities of nurses when administering medications are to prevent or catch error, and report such error. Even if the physician or prescribing health care professional has made a mistake in the order, it is the nurse’s job to question the
A computerized physician order entry (CPOE) system can provide many enhancements to preventing medication mistakes. Using the CPOE will allow all health maintenance providers to have an easily accessible list of all current medications the patient is on and will reduce the process of ordering a medication for a patient, which will lessen the probability of an error occurring throughout the procedure. This organization will also allow pharmacists, nurses, and physicians a form of communication by electronic means. In summary, the combined effort of healthcare professionals and electronic support can greatly reduce medication
Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) allows physicians to electronically enter their patients’ medical orders into the EHR. These orders can then be viewed by other departments and healthcare professionals on a secured network. This system also contains safety alerts and offers permanent record keeping. CPOE was put into place to reduce the risk of medication errors and improve the safety of patient care practices. In order to reduce medication errors and improve patient safety the system was designed to have alert and signaling features to let the nurse know there is a medication safety issue. These safety issues result when there is an error in the six rights of medication administration. The six rights are; right patient, right drug, right dose, right route, right order, and right time. For example, the wrong dose of medication would alert the nurse that the dose does not match the physicians’ orders, preventing potential harm to the patient. Another example would be administering a medication outside the specified time frame. This would alert the nurse to hold the medication and investigate further. If the nurse decides to continue giving the medication they must specify their reasoning for giving i...
Kathy did not provide me much information about this besides that she uses the computer to put in customer information and when they receive E prescriptions form doctors. Computers are extremely helpful when putting in a prescription because they can automatically put in the Rx Number when you put in the rest of the information and you can also use them to update any customer information or insurance information. There can be many other forms of technology depending on the type of pharmacy it is. In many community pharmacies there can bar code scanners that can be used to compare the NDC numbers from the prescription bottle and the DEA number on the actual prescription to ensure medicine safety. In other pharmacies there can automated counting machines that automatically count large quantities of pills or even a Parata Max, which can fill, dispense and label prescriptions as well as store them in a neat manner. In hospital pharmacies, there can be a Pyxis machine where the medicine is generally neatly stored and available to the nurses. The Pyxis machine helps ensure medicine safety in a hospital pharmacy because only nurse’s and other health care professionals that work in that hospital can use the machine because the machine will only work and open with their fingerprint. Technology in pharmacies help speed up the filling, dispensing and storing process accurately, which can help ensure patient medicine safety, but since technology can easily have problems or make mistakes, all medicine that was used by any of these forms of technology should be double
while transferring patients between units. [After reviewing these events], “The Joint Commission identified “Improve the Safety of Using Medications” as one of the 2009 National Patient Safety Goals (Cleveland Clinic, 2009, p.1). In relation to this safety goal, hospitals created a medication reconciliation form that resides in the patient’s ch...
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.
contamination, toxicity, and side effects. Most people believe these medications are compounded or mixed by a trained and licensed individual. However, this is inaccurate because the pharmacy technician actually compounds a large percentage of a patient’s medications. Compounding involves a techn...
Some Pharmacy Admission Specialist (PAS) have difficulty thinking through what must be done when problems are presented in different contexts. Not only must the PAS interview the patient, verify the information and update the EHR, but the PAS must also determine where to find the information, how much time to devote to finding any single piece of verification, how to input the medication so that it is accurate and clear to the provider and pharmacist, and when to mark the list as "ready for provider" or leave it to be finished the next day with clear indication of what has already been completed. The standard work and practice is continually evolving to meet the demands of patient safety. This complex problem requires critical thinking skills with the ability to use the knowledge acquired in each scenario.
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
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]