Medication Barcode Scanner Case Study

The term Nursing Informatics, introduced by Rubenfeld and Scheffer (2015), is described as using technology and/or a computer system to process and communicate data and information across the healthcare system for various reasons (p. 247). For this discussion, I would like to highlight the use of Nursing Informatics in managing the delivery of patient and nursing care. Over the last few years, there have been a few introductions in information technology that serve to improve patient safety. The one that stands out is the implementation of the Medication Barcode Scanner. This process goes beyond the five rights of medication administration and is an extra set of eyes for the nurse. When a patient’s arm band is scanned, the current medication list for the designated timeframe comes into view and the nurse can then scan each medication. The nurse knows she has scanned the correct medication, with the correct dose, and that no changes have been made to the order when she sees a green check populate next to the medication. If there is an issue, a message will alert stating the issue, such as a change in the dose of the medication or that the scanned medication is not recognized. This process has helped to cut down on human errors and improve patient safety in regards to medication

the order being suspended/ changed, dose adjusted, the medication is out of the designated time frame, and/or the pharmacy loaded the wrong medication or dosage into the Omnicell (medication dispenser). There are a series of cause-and-effect scenarios the nurse must play out to resolve the discrepancy. Therefore, “informatics can enhance thinking, but thinking is also a requisite to the effective use of informatics” (Rubenfeld and Scheffer, 2015, p.