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Supermarket-style bar codes could improve patient safety

Accreditation Connection, July 2, 2004

The JCAHO's National Patient Safety Goal #1 requires you to improve the accuracy of patient identification. A bar-code system can help you do that. In fact, a bar-code system that can match patients to their medications or other treatments may become a National Patient Safety Goal in 2005 according to the JCAHO web site.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on February 25 also announced its final rule requiring manufacturers to place bar codes-much like those found on products in the retail setting-on most prescription and over-the-counter drugs, as well as blood products, within two years. New drugs must have bar-code labels within 60 days of FDA approval.

The final rule became effective April 26 and calls for manufacturers to place the medication's National Drug Code number, which identifies the drug, on the bar code. Companies may also include the product's lot number and expiration date information, although they are not required to do so.

Bar-code technology will help caregivers ensure that the right patient receives the right drug and the right dose at the right time.
Here's how it works:

- A caregiver scans the patient's bar-coded identification bracelet before administering out a drug. The computer then pulls up the patient's medical record.

- The caregiver scans the drug the pharmacy provided for the patient. The scan alerts the computer about the drug.

- The computer compares the patient's medical record to the drug the caregiver is about to administer to ensure that they match. If there is a problem, (e.g., the drug does not match the patient or the medication is the wrong dose) the computer alerts the caregiver.

"I really do see this as a tremendous breakthrough for patient safety," says Deidre Shinn, MSN, MBA, clinical patient-safety coordinator at Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, DE. "It's like wearing a safety belt. This is another level of protection."

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