title: Effect of bar-code technology on the incidence of medication dispensing errors and potential adverse drug events in a hospital pharmacy.
abstract: We performed a direct observation prepost study to evaluate the impact of barcode technology on medication dispensing errors and potential adverse drug events in the pharmacy of a tertiary-academic medical center. We found that barcode technology significantly reduced the rate of target dispensing errors leaving the pharmacy by 85%, from 0.37% to 0.06%. The rate of potential adverse drug events (ADEs) due to dispensing errors was also significantly reduced by 63%, from 0.19%to 0.069%. In a 735-bed hospital where 6 million doses of medications are dispensed per year, this technology is expected to prevent about 13,000 dispensing errors and 6,000 potential ADEs per year.
authors.affiliation: Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Eric G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Poon
authors.forename: Jennifer L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Cina
authors.forename: William W
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Churchill
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mitton
authors.forename: Michelle L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: McCrea
authors.forename: Erica
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Featherstone
authors.forename: Carol A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Keohane
authors.forename: Jeffrey M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Rothschild
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Bates
authors.forename: Tejal K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Gandhi
mesh_terms: D016303:Clinical Pharmacy Information Systems; D064420:Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions; D001330:Electronic Data Processing; D006801:Humans; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008510:Medication Systems, Hospital; D010607:Pharmacy Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*