Electronic Medication Administration Record System Research Articles

Meeting the National Need for Expertise in Pain Management with Clinical Pharmacist Advanced Practice Providers

Insulin, a high-alert medication, is regularly prescribed in the inpatient setting for hyperglycemia and diabetes mellitus. Although convenient, insulin pens carry a risk of blood-borne pathogens if the same pen is used on multiple patients. At the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), a new nursing protocol for insulin pen administration was developed to ensure that insulin was quickly available and to identify and move to eliminate wrong-patient insulin pen errors. This protocol involved unit-based automated dispensing machines and an electronic health record (EHR)–integrated patient-specific bar code label work flow.After piloting on three hospital units, this new patient-specific bar code label process was expanded hospitalwide. “Print Label For Insulin Pen” and “Scan Insulin Pen” buttons were programmed into the EHR to enable nurses to print patient-specific bar code labels. In addition, a “wrong-patient pen alert” was activated to prevent wrong-pen insulin pen administration.For the 162,075 inpatient insulin pen administrations during the study period (April 2017–March 2018), monthly errors (rates) ranged from 13 (0.12%) to 36 (0.23%). In total, 296 near-miss events (0.18% of all insulin pen administrations) were observed and prevented.Insulin pen work flow and EHR changes implemented at UCSF enable subcutaneous insulin to remain a time-critical medication and ensure patient safety. The wide adoption of EHRs offers an opportunity to integrate patient safety improvements directly into the electronic medication administration record systems to maximize patient safety.

Impact of Bar-Code Medication Administration and Electronic Medication Administration Record System in Clinical Practice for an Effective Medication Administration Process

Clinical innovations are ideations resulting from collective experiences that enhance the “norm” and embrace an avenue for change with an invention. As such, collective data that were suggestive of increased medication errors that compromised patient safety initiated the exploration of methods that could reduce multifactorial human errors. The pursuit for an appropriate system followed with the discovery of barcode medication administration system (BCMA) and electronic medication administration system (e-MAR). Prior to the adoption of BCMA and e-MAR, it was crucial to assess the impact of the new medication administration system and the rate of medication administration errors recorded, specifically those that resulted in harm. The purpose of the study was to evaluate BCMA and e-MAR usage outcomes, clinical practices, policies, and processes impacting nurses administering medications in the clinical environment using BCMA and e-MAR system. Thus, an annotated literature review was conducted prior to the implementation of the innovation which analyzed various studies that elaborated on their study methods, data collection and analysis that deliberated on the advantages and disadvantages of barcode medication administration system. It is evident in the researched journals that increased compliance was observed with appropriate guidance, processes and policies in place. There was also a significant reduction in reported errors. The incorporation of barcode technology with electronic medication administration record (e-MAR) had greatly improved the efficiency of the BCMA system. BCMAs method was one of the proposed solutions to medication administration errors and to enhance patient safety measures. As such, the innovation could significantly reduce medication error resulting from intrinsic and extrinsic factors. This paper will further elaborate on the advantages and disadvantages of BCMA and e-MAR, the strategies assumed in the development of BCMA and e-MAR system and its implementation process by identifying and overcoming potential challenges that may arise.

Development and Implementation of a Subcutaneous Insulin Pen Label Bar Code Scanning Protocol to Prevent Wrong-Patient Insulin Pen Errors

Insulin, a high-alert medication, is regularly prescribed in the inpatient setting for hyperglycemia and diabetes mellitus. Although convenient, insulin pens carry a risk of blood-borne pathogens if the same pen is used on multiple patients. At the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), a new nursing protocol for insulin pen administration was developed to ensure that insulin was quickly available and to identify and move to eliminate wrong-patient insulin pen errors. This protocol involved unit-based automated dispensing machines and an electronic health record (EHR)-integrated patient-specific bar code label work flow. After piloting on three hospital units, this new patient-specific bar code label process was expanded hospitalwide. "Print Label For Insulin Pen" and "Scan Insulin Pen" buttons were programmed into the EHR to enable nurses to print patient-specific bar code labels. In addition, a "wrong-patient pen alert" was activated to prevent wrong-pen insulin pen administration. For the 162,075 inpatient insulin pen administrations during the study period (April 2017-March 2018), monthly errors (rates) ranged from 13 (0.12%) to 36 (0.23%). In total, 296 near-miss events (0.18% of all insulin pen administrations) were observed and prevented. Insulin pen work flow and EHR changes implemented at UCSF enable subcutaneous insulin to remain a time-critical medication and ensure patient safety. The wide adoption of EHRs offers an opportunity to integrate patient safety improvements directly into the electronic medication administration record systems to maximize patient safety.

Evaluating a Serious Gaming Electronic Medication Administration Record System Among Nursing Students: Protocol for a Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial.

BackgroundAlthough electronic medication administration record systems have been implemented in settings where nurses work, nursing students commonly lack robust learning opportunities to practice the skills and workflow of digitalized medication administration during their formative education. As a result, nursing students’ performance in administering medication facilitated by technology is often poor. Serious gaming has been recommended as a possible intervention to improve nursing students’ performance with electronic medication administration in nursing education.ObjectiveThe objectives of this study are to examine whether the use of a gamified electronic medication administration simulator (1) improves nursing students’ attention to medication administration safety within simulated practice, (2) increases student self-efficacy and knowledge of the medication administration process, and (3) improves motivational and cognitive processing attributes related to student learning in a technology-enabled environment.MethodsThis study comprised the development of a gamified electronic medication administration record simulator and its evaluation in 2 phases. Phase 1 consists of a prospective, pragmatic randomized controlled trial with second-year baccalaureate nursing students at a Canadian university. Phase 2 consists of qualitative focus group interviews with a cross-section of nursing student participants.ResultsThe gamified medication administration simulator has been developed, and data collection is currently under way.ConclusionsIf the gamified electronic medication administration simulator is found to be effective, it could be used to support other health professional simulated education and scaled more widely in nursing education programs.Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT03219151; https://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT03219151 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6yjBROoDt)Registered Report IdentifierRR1-10.2196/9601

Design challenges for electronic medication administration record systems in residential aged care facilities: a formative evaluation.

Electronic medication administration record (eMAR) systems are promoted as a potential intervention to enhance medication safety in residential aged care facilities (RACFs). The purpose of this study was to conduct an in-practice evaluation of an eMAR being piloted in one Australian RACF before its roll out, and to provide recommendations for system improvements. A multidisciplinary team conducted direct observations of workflow (n=34 hours) in the RACF site and the community pharmacy. Semi-structured interviews (n=5) with RACF staff and the community pharmacist were conducted to investigate their views of the eMAR system. Data were analysed using a grounded theory approach to identify challenges associated with the design of the eMAR system. The current eMAR system does not offer an end-to-end solution for medication management. Many steps, including prescribing by doctors and communication with the community pharmacist, are still performed manually using paper charts and fax machines. Five major challenges associated with the design of eMAR system were identified: limited interactivity; inadequate flexibility; problems related to information layout and semantics; the lack of relevant decision support; and system maintenance issues. We suggest recommendations to improve the design of the eMAR system and to optimize existing workflows. Immediate value can be achieved by improving the system interactivity, reducing inconsistencies in data entry design and offering dedicated organisational support to minimise connectivity issues. Longer-term benefits can be achieved by adding decision support features and establishing system interoperability requirements with stakeholder groups (e.g. community pharmacies) prior to system roll out. In-practice evaluations of technologies like eMAR system have great value in identifying design weaknesses which inhibit optimal system use.

Nurses' Perceptions and Experiences With the Implementation of a Medication Administration System

The purpose of this article was to describe facilitators and barriers to the implementation of a commercially available electronic medication administration record system at two pediatric hospitals. Qualitative interviews were conducted at 6 and 18 months after implementation with a convenience sample of nurses working on either the medical-surgical or ICUs. The 18-month interview reassessed barriers identified to the adoption of the electronic medication administration record system at the 6-month interview. The vast majority of respondents (85%) indicated that the implementation plan met their expectations. The most significant barrier to adoption (identified by 72% of respondents) was excessive time for logging into the system. After 18 months, respondent satisfaction increased considerably as modifications to the electronic medication administration record system were made, and adjustments to workflow resulted in streamlined nurse work processes coupled with increased productivity and enhanced patient safety. While this study confirms that nursing staff acceptance of health information technology is aided by the system's ability to improve patient safety and accessibility of patient information, we also found that factors unrelated to the actual software or the system could be important determinants of users' satisfaction.

Integrating technology to improve medication administration

The development, implementation, and evaluation of an i.v. interoperability program to advance medication safety at the bedside are described. I.V. interoperability integrates intelligent infusion devices (IIDs), the bar-code-assisted medication administration system, and the electronic medication administration record system into a bar-code-driven workflow that populates provider-ordered, pharmacist-validated infusion parameters on IIDs. The purpose of this project was to improve medication safety through the integration of these technologies and decrease the potential for error during i.v. medication administration. Four key phases were essential to developing and implementing i.v. interoperability: (a) preparation, (b) i.v. interoperability pilot, (c) preliminary validation, and (d) expansion. The establishment of pharmacy involvement in i.v. interoperability resulted in two additional safety checks: pharmacist infusion rate oversight and nurse independent validation of the autoprogrammed rate. After instituting i.v. interoperability, monthly compliance to the telemetry drug library increased to a mean ± S.D. of 72.1% ± 2.1% from 56.5% ± 1.5%, and the medical-surgical nursing unit's drug library monthly compliance rate increased to 58.6% ± 2.9% from 34.1% ± 2.6% (p < 0.001 for both comparisons). The number of manual pump edits decreased with both telemetry and medical-surgical drug libraries, demonstrating a reduction from 56.9 ± 12.8 to 14.2 ± 3.9 and from 61.2 ± 15.4 to 14.7 ± 3.8, respectively (p < 0.001 for both comparisons). Through the integration and incorporation of pharmacist oversight for rate changes, the telemetry and medical-surgical patient care areas demonstrated a 32% reduction in reported monthly errors involving i.v. administration of heparin. By integrating two stand-alone technologies, i.v. interoperability was implemented to improve medication administration. Medication errors were reduced, nursing workflow was simplified, and pharmacists became involved in checking infusion rates of i.v. medications.