Technology--A Tool for Medication Safety

The Problem
Medication errors in the health care delivery system are the most common type of error, according to the Institute of Medicine. At least 1.5 million people are harmed each year and drug-related injuries occurring in hospitals amount to $3.5 billion a year. The staff at Parkview Medical Center thought they could dramatically improve patient safety by focusing on its medication administration processes.

The Solution
Staff examined and reengineered its entire medication administration process. A multidisciplinary team of front-line staff from pharmacy, nursing and information technology worked on breaking down the silos between nursing and pharmacy and eliminating errorprone steps, such as waiting till midnight to reconcile medications. Then they worked on automating steps to give the nursing staff capability to verify that the entire process was followed.

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