Using a bar code system to check patients’ medications and dosages may significantly reduce drug transcription and administration errors, according to a study in NEJM.

For the study, researchers at Boston-based Brigham and Women’s Hospital tracked medication administrations and order transcriptions before and after the bar code system was added to the facility’s electronic health record (EHR) system in 2005.

The researchers found that after bar code technology was added to EHRs throughout medical and surgical units and the ICU, patients were:

 

• 57% less likely to receive the wrong drug;
   
• 42% less likely to receive the wrong dose;
   
• 61% less likely to receive a drug when none had been prescribed; and
   
• 27% less likely to receive a drug at the wrong time.
   

In addition, the study found that transcription errors fell from a rate of 6.1% to zero. The rate of potential adverse drug events also fell from 3.1% to 1.6%.

Brigham and Women’s nurses monitor patient information with laptop computers, which automatically log scans of patients’ bar codes; when an incorrect drug or dose is detected, a warning alerts the nurse, the Boston Globe notes. The study authors say that bar code systems may complement physician order entry systems by reducing errors related to poor judgment, lack of complete clinical information, and memory lapses.

Noting that Brigham and Women’s administers nearly six million doses of medication annually, the researchers estimate that the bar code system may prevent 95,000 adverse drug events each year. The system cost about $10 million to install.  (Poon et al., NEJM )