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Study: Nurses sometimes skirt barcode safety checks

NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Aug. 18, 2008

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Nurses override bar-code medication administration safety alerts for 4.2% of patients and for 10.3% of medications, according to a study in the July/August Journal of the American Medical Informatics Assn.

The study, done at five hospitals in the Midwest and on the East Coast, found that nurses perceive many of these work-arounds as more efficient and better for patient care and safety, even though they have the potential to result in unintended oversights.

The study found that bar-code systems did stop thousands of medication errors from occurring, but the authors concluded that technology alone is not a fail-safe solution. For example, nurses may scan medications but not patients' wristbands because they are damaged or inaccessible due to patients' sleeping positions.

"Bar-coding is still under development," said lead author Ross Koppel, PhD. "Administrators and vendors may expect it to be foolproof, but users know it's not. It's a very promising technology that still requires constant refining and careful observation of on-the-floor workflow to get it right."

Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/08/18/prbf0818.htm.

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