Assignment 2: Is Your Process Following Your Policy?

The stage 1 of the meaningful use includes thirteen core criteria and ten menu set objectives. The first core criteria is the computerized provider order entry (CPOE). CPOE entails the provider’s use of computer assistance to directly enter medication orders from a computer or mobile device. The use of CPOE and the electronic prescription process is a technology that has been found to be helpful in preventing medication prescribing errors in several ways (Mominah & Househ, 2013). Having an accurate electronic patient medication profile will help prescribers and pharmacists review the medication history easily and consequently alert the pharmacist to communicate with the prescriber in case any unexplained change in the prescribed medication to the patient and then conforming the change with the prescriber. Applying CPOE technology reduces medication errors.

Bar code medication administration (BCMA) is a mechanism to decrease medication mistakes through scanning a code printed on the patient’s armband and then scanning the medication (Leapfrog Hospital Survey, 2016). The scanned information is processed through the electronic medical record and displays on the medication administration record (MAR) to ensure that bedside nurses are using the “Five Rights of Medication Administration” (Leapfrog Hospital Survey, 2016). The process of passing medication to patients has moved from a printed medication administration records and medication carts to an electronic version with automated medication dispensing systems. This electronic version effects nursing care by

Medication errors are among the most significant cause of patient injury in all types of medical errors (Johnson, Carlson, Tucker, & Willette, n.d). In the nursing profession, medication administration errors occur 34% of the time, second only to physician ordering errors (Gooder, 2011). The introduction of information technology, such as the Bar Code Medication Administration (BCMA), offers new opportunities for reducing medication administration errors. BCMA was developed by the Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center in 1998 to help improve the documentation of medication administration, decrease medication errors and provide

E prescribing can be a part of the EHR in Epic, which would include patient data, and not just prescription information. When e prescriptions are utilized in Epic, the medication is checked for interactions with the patient’s other medications and allergies. Check systems within Epic look for drug-allergy, drug-drug, and how the medication reacts with the disease. In a case study of 17 physicians in an ambulatory clinic conducted by Abramson et al., error rates from prescribing decreased from 35.7 per 100 prescriptions to 12.2 per 100 prescriptions in a year of e-prescribing as reviewed in this study. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009 stated that healthcare providers would have access to EHRs to ensure the meaningful use standards per the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS). Meaningful use is attained by increasing the quality of patient outcomes by having access to the medication data, the patient’s history, and diagnosis by the prescriber. Prescribing is safer, when the provider is aware of the patient’s history, current medications, and allergies, therefore better patient outcomes. In the United States, the HITECH Act and the meaningful use standards stated by CMS have increased the use of e-prescribing per Friedman (2009). The CMS made e prescribing a

An accurate list of all medications will be produced. An up to date list of all medical providers and their contact information, including the name and number of the patient’s local pharmacy will be created with the patient and his spouse. The patient will be encouraged to use only one pharmacy, and to bring all medications to visits with his providers (Woodruff, 2010).

In the process of investigating the research topic, many relevant and current research articles were discovered. Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) was the database in which 4 out of the 5 articles were discovered. The keywords used were medication administration and electronic medication administration record entered in separate searches. Limitations applied to each search were the publication dates between 2010 and 2014 and full text. Both searches combined yielded a total of 42 articles and relevance was determined by reading first the title and then the abstract. For 1 out of 5 articles the database OvidSP was used. The key words electronic medication administration was used and applied limitations were a publication date between 2010 and 2014 and original articles. The search yielded 134 results and relevance was determined by reading the title and then the abstract. All of the discussed articles are current and published between the years 2010 and 2014 and

This integrative review sought to identify and understand the impact of information technology in on medication errors. The review of 14 papers shows that the implementation of medication management systems, which include CPOE, BCMA and automated dispensing machines has successfully reduced medication errors and adverse medication events significantly, particularly the two most susceptible stages of prescription and administration of drugs (Armada et al., 2014).

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

Medication history is nothing more than a detailed, accurate and complete account of all prescribed and non-prescribed medications a patient might have taken or is presently taking upon to the arrival to the acute care institution. One of the challenges in the process of completing the medication history, is the ability to obtain pertinent and valuable information in a timely manner as this provides valuable insight in guiding appropriate treatment and care during the emergency situation. Doing so in an effective manner can help prevent medication errors and consequent risks to patients. Another challenge is the lack of technology integration across the national healthcare system which poses significant difficulties in obtaining accurate information from a variety of sources in a timely manner. Regulatory and accreditation bodies have made it a requirement that healthcare systems focus on improving the medication reconciliation across the continuum of

An electronic source that I found useful in prescribing medication is Prescription Pad software. Prescription pad software is developed by the Compurx Infotech company. It is a medical software that promised a 100% safe, fool-proof and first rate prescription to a patient because of its ability to automatically checks for drug interactions and duplications (CompuRx Infotech, 2015). Once the medication brands name is entered in the prescription writing area., the software can detect limitations that a patient may have such as pregnancy, lactation, children, elderly, hepatic insufficiency, renal insufficiency & pulmonary insufficiency.

Most facilities that deal with patient care in this day and age have implemented some form of electronic health records to store patient health care related information. Pharmacies that have an electronic patient record system in place help to improve patient care coordination by reducing errors, enhancing patient privacy and ensuring data is accessible. Information Security ensures that medication, funds and patient data are protected to encourage quality service, positive brand recognition and overall success of any pharmacy. In order to provide this level of service to patients, a well planned and executed security plan that incorporates the access control procedures and policies must be created. This plan will have to encompass hours of operation, opening and closing store front procedures, for logical and physical access control accountability, combinations creation and maintenance, record of keys made and who should be able to access any area in particular, authorized accesses control for building, computer, electric, water and ground maintenance, transportation and transfer of drugs, procedures for reporting in any type of losses and replacement procedures for any device that can grant access within the

Hospitals with automated centralized pharmacies reported that greater than 50% of their inpatient doses were dispensed via centralized automated systems. Half of all responding hospitals used a decentralized medication storage system. One-third of hospitals with automated storage and dispensing systems were linked to the pharmacy computer. Importantly, about half of the surveyed hospitals reported drug distributions that bypassed the pharmacy including floor stock, borrowing patients’ medications, and hidden drug supplies. Study Designs There were no true randomized trials. One crossover study of the McLaughlin dispensing system randomized nurses to work with the intervention medication system or the control 112 •

Another element implemented into the pharmacy was the use of the electronic medical record system, which provided access to the patients’ medical history and physician collaboration. The different method implemented in the work setting

Bates and Gawande, in their article, Improving Safety with Information Technology, notes that medication interactions are now accurately check by computers, thus saving patients from potentially harmful interactions. In the past nurses were requires to calculate infusion rates

First, computer databases for data about pharmaceuticals, and therapeutic treatment all in all, are utilized inside of drug stores. These database frameworks permit pharmacy staff to discover data about any potential clashes or human services issues in an endorsed treatment, and data about the points of interest of any specific prescription the pharmacist needs to know more about. This data may incorporate fixings and potential impacts and also examine and find information.