Healthcare Informatics Resources

Coming across this post, l recognised the device (scanner) which the writer says her facility uses. On the face value, JAHCO will applaud this device because it acted as if the cases of med errors have been eliminated. Yet as the writer said, it still goes back to knowing your patients and knowing your medications. Nurses are the final check point in the health team providers list. We are in between the ordering physicians and the releasing pharmacists. Nurses have to see that the parameters for which the drug is being administered is not in violation. For instance, nurses know by common sense that once the med is due, the scanner will scan and does not tell if the parameter for using a betablocker is checked for not. It is up to the nurse to make sure that the blood pressure is stable and the heart rate is within normal range. Despite these technologies, we are still required to do our checks before trusting the device.

Original Post:
June 30, 2009
Title: The 6 rights of drug administration
The 6 rights of drug administration did not prevent the cause of death in one particular case. The problem lies with the incorrect labeling of medication. The key is to trace what happened, review for any outlying causes or "what happened" and correct that as soon as possible. While the nurse I am sure will have to live with that the rest of her life, and that’s not easy, I feel that she has comfort in knowing she did not cause this. Many hospitals are using the computerized medical dispenser where you scan the patients ID bracelets then you scan the drug that is being administered which is on a time schedule also. The thinking is this will correct and help make sure the 6 rights of drug administration are followed, while this looks good for JACHO, the bottom line is a human is still keying in the information and we all make mistakes. I am not so sure the technology we have today in practice is as good as the old fashion, "know your patient and the medications being administered".

Tags: Healthcare Informatics, Healthcare Informatics Resources, Computerized Medication Drug Administration

This entry was posted on July 17, 2009 at 1:55 pm and is filed under Electronic Medical Record, Information Systems. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.