Bar Code Assisted Medication Administration Case Study

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Practice Condition
In the fast paced environment of the emergency room safe medication administration is a complex process. The process is highly susceptible to medication errors which can affect patient safety. Medication errors are also costs to the overall health system in the United States. A medication error is preventable. Through the implication of education, safe guidelines and tools to assist the user errors can be prevented. By introducing a barcode assisted medication administration scanner as a tool, medication errors in the emergency room can be reduced.
Nursing Theory
Nursing theories provide a framework and explain phenomena for nursing practice. The American Association of Critical Care Synergy Model of Patient Care is a middle
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240). “The systems outcome include recidivism, costs, and resources utilization” (McEwen, 2014, p. 240). A bar code assisted medication administration system reduces cost to the health care system through error prevention. The barcode assisted medication administration system is able to use technology to provide efficiency and better allocate resources in a costly department such as the emergency room.
Derivation
The Synergy Model of Patient Care was “developed by a panel of American Association of Critical Care Nurses, and its purpose was to articulate the nurse’s contribution, activities and outcomes with regard to caring for critically ill patients” (McEwen, 2014, p. 238). The model was also developed as a way to standardize critical care nursing certification examinations.
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In research, the nursing practice can evaluate patient outcomes. There is research to support barcode assisted medication administration system. According to the Academic Emergency Medicine, “an associated relative reduction of 80.7% in medication errors was observed” in their research (Academic Emergency Medicine, 2013, p. 804). An exemplar utilizing the synergy model of patient care theory in nursing practice is subsequently provided.
The emergency room is a fast paced environment where the current process for administering medications is done via verbal or written order. The order is verified by pharmacy, but not necessarily in time for allergic responses and dosage amount. The nurse has to check the computer to verify allergies. Then the individual nursing finger scan is done and the medication is retrieved from the drawer. The synergy model of patient care theory views this a “moderately vulnerable environment where the patient is susceptible to potential stressors that may adversely affect patient outcomes” (AACN,