Effect of Bar-Code Technology on the Safety of Medication Administration

This is a review of Eric G. Poon et al. study of barcode medication administration.

Abstract

The authors did a comparison of rates of errors in medication administration and order transcription in a hospital before and after the implementation of a barcode Electronic Medication Administration Record(eMAR). These errors categorized as timing errors and nontiming errors, and were reviewed by clinicians to be determined as potential adverse drug events. The study found that units that used barcode eMARs had a lower rate of error in medication for both timing and nontiming categories than units that did not use barcode eMARs, and that errors in order transcription were completely eliminated in units that used barcode eMARs.