Electronic Medication Administration (eMAR)
After studying how standardized bar code technology could reduce the risk of medication errors and increase accuracy in billing, HCA worked with MEDITECH to develop a medication reconciliation program called eMAR (electronic medication administration record).How eMAR works:
Each patient admitted to an HCA facility receives an armband with a bar code. The bar code corresponds to the patient’s current medical record, including drug history, allergies and lab results. Bar code identifiers also appear on shrink-wrapped doses of medication.
Before a medication is administered, bar codes on the patient armband and the medication are scanned allowing the nurse or therapist to verify the right patient is receiving the right drug in the right dose at the right time.
The software checks each medication against the patient’s drug history and lab results. If conflicts or potential drug interactions are identified, warnings alert the nurse to double check, verify and/or call the doctor before administering the medication.
Currently all our inpatient units are using eMAR in addition to our pre-surgical department. In the future the use of eMAR will extend to the recovery room (post surgical care), cardiac catheterization lab, endoscopy, and diagnostic imaging special procedures.
To read more about how eMAR adds to patient safety and other ways we are working here at Regional to improve clinical outcomes, click here.
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