| Sumario: | The use of bar-code medication administration technology is on the rise in acute care facilities in the United States. The technology is purported to decrease medication errors that occur at the point of administration. How significantly this technology affects actual rate and severity of error is unknown. This descriptive, longitudinal research study examined the rate and severity of hospital medication errors before, during, and after the implementation of bar-code medication administration technology in a community hospital setting. Errors that occurred in each category in the medication use process, as well as each level of severity, were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical means. Errors associated with administration decreased steadily in every time period and reached statistical significance (p=0.048) in the final year of the study. Relative to severity of reported errors, no significant changes were noted in errors that reached the patient. Conversely, a statistically significant increase in potential errors was noted by the final year of the study (p=0.011).
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