ONS Connect - July 2008 - (Page 9)

Carrie Luedecker, RN, OCN®, uses bar coding at her institution to ensure that patients are being given the right medicines at the right time. reducing Errors Through Bar Coding A computer technology being used increasingly in clinical practice is bar code–enabled point of care (BPOC) (see sidebar on p. 11). ONS member Carrie Luedecker, RN, OCN®, a staff nurse in surgical services and the oncology center at Evergreen Hospital in Kirkland, WA, says that the new technology uses bar code scanning to identify a patient before medication administration. The technology is deployed using a handheld device with integrated bar code scanners that match the patient with the most up-to-date medication orders. The program checks the patient’s medications against his or her identifiers. “The process scans the bar codes on patients’ arm bands and the bar codes on medications to automatically check for the five patient medication ‘rights’: right patient, right drug, right dose, right route, right time,” Luedecker says. Prior to the implementation of BPOC, medications were checked using the medication administration record on a paper chart, which often was unavailable if the chart was being used by another clinician. With BPOC, the handheld device provides an electronic medication administration record that verifies the medications scheduled for administration specifically at each scanning of the bar code on patients’ arm bands. “The most important feature of this technology is the identification of patients using the bar code on the arm band at the point of care for medication July 2008 ONS CONNECT 9

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ONS Connect - July 2008 Contents Editor's Note Just In Technologic Advancements in Cancer Care A Year in the Life - Month Seven Web Connect Capitol Connection Notice Nursing Now Caregiver Care Computerized System Standardizes Symptom Assessment and Management Nanotechnology Treats Cancer at the Atomic Level Rise in Mastectomies May Be Linked to Increased Use of MRI Detection Working for You Calendar of Events Staying on Top

ONS Connect - July 2008

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