The Impact of Barcode Medication Administration Workarounds on Medication Safety

Abstract

Barcode medication administration (BCMA) is designed to intercept medication errors that may occur during the administration stage of the medication process. BCMA is an advanced technology that ensures: verification of the five rights of medication administration, real-time documentation of medication administration, and compliance with hospital policies and procedures. BCMA enhances efficiency and accuracy of medication administration; however, when BCMA design does not reflect nursing practice, blocks in workflow occur. These blocks require nurses to problem solve in order to complete medication administration tasks in a timely manner. Therefore, an extensive review of the literature was performed to investigate the impact of such workarounds compared to properly performed barcode medication administration on medication safety. Five studies were retrieved and the research findings for each study were synthesized to provide evidence for answering this question. The conclusion drawn from the research findings is that workarounds do impact medication safety. When a workaround is used the verification of one or more of the five rights of medication administration is bypassed, impacting medication safety by putting the patient at a significant risk for an unintended medication error occurring. Therefore, it is imperative that nurse educators are aware and assist in providing on-going education and assessment, while advocating for further research to study the effect of barcode medication administration workarounds on medication safety.