title: Time trend of injection drug errors before and after implementation of bar-code verification system.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Bar-code technology, used for verification of patients and their medication, could prevent medication errors in clinical practice.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Retrospective analysis of electronically stored medical error reports was conducted in a university hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  The number of reported medication errors of injected drugs, including wrong drug administration and administration to the wrong patient, was compared before and after implementation of the bar-code verification system for inpatient care.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 2867 error reports associated with injection drugs were extracted. Wrong patient errors decreased significantly after implementation of the bar-code verification system (17.4/year vs. 4.5/year, p< 0.05), although wrong drug errors did not decrease sufficiently (24.2/year vs. 20.3/year). The source of medication errors due to wrong drugs was drug preparation in hospital wards.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Bar-code medication administration is effective for prevention of wrong patient errors. However, ordinary bar-code verification systems are limited in their ability to prevent incorrect drug preparation in hospital wards.
authors: Department of Regulatory Science, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan.
authors: Ken
authors: K
authors: Sakushima
authors: Division of Medical information planning, Hokkaido University Hospital, Sapporo, Japan.
authors: Reona
authors: R
authors: Umeki
authors: Division of Medical information planning, Hokkaido University Hospital, Sapporo, Japan.
authors: Akira
authors: A
authors: Endoh
authors: Department of Biostatistics, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan.
authors: Yoichi M
authors: YM
authors: Ito
authors: Division of Hospital Safety Management, Hokkaido University Hospital, Sapporo, Japan.
authors: Yasuyuki
authors: Y
authors: Nasuhara
mesh_terms: D001330:Electronic Data Processing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D007267:Injections / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000145:classification / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008510:Medication Systems, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D061214:Patient Safety; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors
keywords: Bar-code technology; error report; injection drug; medical safety; wrong patient