Bar-code technology can reduce medication errors in hospitals, a new study finds.
With the bar-code technology, a nurse scans a patient's wristband as well as the medication about to be given. If the bar codes on each don't match or if it's not the right time for the next dose, the nurse gets an electronic warning.
The rate of potential adverse drug events other than timing errors fell from 3.1 per cent without the use of the bar-code technology to 1.6 per cent afterwards, according to the study reported Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Dr. Eric Poon of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and his colleagues compared 6,723 doses administered at a medical centre before the technology was adopted with 7,318 doses administered six weeks after the new system came in.
Transcription errors, such as typing in the wrong dose of medication, occurred at a rate of six per cent on medical units that used the older system of dispensing drugs. Such errors were eliminated on devices that used the new bar coding system.
'Substantial' safety gain possible
The rate of timing errors fell by 27 per cent, but the rate of potential side-effects associated with the timing errors did not change significantly.
"Given the high number of doses administered and orders transcribed in any acute-care hospital, implementation of the bar-code electronic medication administration record could substantially improve medication safety," the researchers wrote.
Hospitals also need the proper resources and human talent to use the technology successfully, they said.
The 735-bed medical centre that was studied invested about $10 million US to implement the bar-code system, Poon told Reuters, with most of the cost going toward training.
It is estimated that more than 700 patients die every year in Canada as a result of preventable medication mistakes.
The study was funded by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. One of the study's authors is on the board of directors of IntelliDot, which makes bar-coding systems for hospitals, and consults for Cardinal Health, which makes IV drug administration systems.
