Improving Patient Safety with Bar-Coding Technology
Alton Memorial Hospital among nation's first to use bar codes to increase medication accuracy

October 3, 2005 -- Bar-coding technology -- the kind that grocery stores and other retailers have used for decades to improve efficiency and accuracy -- is now enhancing patient safety at Alton Memorial Hospital. The Hospital is among the first in the St. Louis area to adopt the technology, which reduces medication errors.

Bar-coding is part of the Hospital's new Medication Administration Check (MAK) system that ensures the right patient receives the right medication in the right dose by the right route and at the right time.

All patient wristbands contain unique bar codes that correspond to a computerized record of the patient's current medication history, including allergies and side effects. When the Hospital pharmacy fills the patient's prescription, each dose is given a unique bar code.

Using a portable cart equipped with a wireless laptop computer and hand-held scanner, nurses scan a bar code on individually packaged medications and then scan the patient's wristband. The computer checks against the specifications prescribed for the patient. If the bar codes do not match or the MAK software identifies a problem, the nurse is prompted to verify accuracy of the medication or contact the patient's physician before administering the medication.

"This system has many double checks in place," says Debbie Turpin, RN, lead clinical information specialist at Alton Memorial Hospital. "We know if medications are being given appropriately and on time. Our ultimate goal is to eliminate medication errors at Alton Memorial Hospital."

Turpin says all medication orders are reviewed at the nurses' station and verified against the doctor's order before the nurse takes the cart to patients' rooms and gives medications.

The $3 million investment in bar-coding includes 40 MAK carts, which are mobile workstations with laptop computers and bar scanners. They are networked to a central computer that can be accessed at the pharmacy and the nurses' stations.

By reducing reliance on oral and handwritten communication, bar-coding may reduce medication-related errors by up to 40 percent. The Food and Drug Administration has estimated that bar-coding technology could prevent as many as 500,000 adverse medication events over the next 20 years.

"Bar-coding is just now emerging as a patient safety technology in hospitals," says Tim Mislan, Alton Memorial's chief nurse executive. "Current patient safety research indicates that bar-coding technology may eliminate virtually all bedside medication administration errors and near misses. Our investment in bar-coding demonstrates our ongoing commitment to being one of the safest hospitals in the region for our patients and medical staff."