Doylestown Implants Wireless Med Management
An article in the Philadelphia Business Journal noted the new program implemented at Doylestown Hospital to reduce the incidence of medication errors within the facility. The facility partnered with Meditech, an organization that provides software for healthcare organizations.
The facility adopted an electronic medication administration record (eMAR) that uses handheld scanners and Bluetooth technology. The scanners are used to read the barcodes on medications and patient wristbands. Patients’ identification wristbands also have barcodes attached.
The hospital barcodes doses of drugs dispensed for each patient, in accordance with medication orders. The system then tracks the medication as it moves from the pharmacy to delivery at the bedside.
Before administering drugs to a patient, the identification wristband is scanned. The software linked to the eMAR system alerts staff if there is an issue with the medication, such as a potential interaction, allergy, or incompatibility.
The facility noted that within two weeks of launching the system, 90,000 medications were scanned with the system. Alerts were issued 6,000 times, 1,200 of which had clinical implications.
Doylestown officials note that the facility spent over half a million dollars to implement the system. System development with Meditech was completed over a two year period. Doylestown was the first facility to go live with the product, following a stage for beta testing.
Related stories:
- Medication Management Coalition Launched
- RFID Verifies Medication Administration
- System to Track Medication Implemented at New England Sinai
August 17, 2007 Related topics: Wireless, Quality, Safety, Errors, Pharmaceuticals