Take your medicine, safely

Hospital is first to give nurses handheld computers to dispense drugs

Nurses at UW Hospital and Clinics have the latest technology for administering medications literally in the palm of their hands.

The hospital has equipped nurses on its inpatient oncology unit with handheld computers that scan bar codes to verify all aspects of medication administration.

The handheld device is a component of AcuScan-Rx, part of an automated system to enhance medication safety. UW Hospital and Clinics is the first hospital anywhere to use this integrated system to dispense, administer and document medications for inpatients. Once AcuScan is piloted on the oncology unit, its use will be expanded hospitalwide a few units at a time, says Tom Thielke, hospital pharmacy director.

The AcuScan computers, which look much like a Palm Pilot, receive and display patient information and medication profiles from the hospital’s pharmacy computer system. At the bedside, nurses scan a bar code on their identification badge, a bar code on the medication, and a barcode on the patient’s wristband. If there is a discrepancy anywhere in the medication equation – patient, drug, dose, method or time – AcuScan alerts the nurse to a potential problem. If all elements are in agreement, the medication is given, and the information is entered via AcuScan into the patient’s medical record.

“The system virtually eliminates human errors in administering and documenting medications,” says Steve Rough, director, pharmacy service organization, and pharmacy AcuScan project coordinator. The health-care industry has realized in recent years that errors are almost always the result of system failures rather than individuals.

Nurses welcome the new technology, says nursing director Sue Lehnherr. It provides them with timely, easy-to-access information, relieves them of paperwork and virtually eliminates the potential for human error.

UW Hospital began automating the drug-dispensing process in the 1990s.