Comparison of barcode scanning by pharmacy technicians and pharmacists' visual checks for final product verification.
Purpose. The results of an evaluation of barcode verification by pharmacy technicians as an alternative to visual checking by pharmacists in the final stage of the dispensing process are reported. Methods. A two-phase study was conducted to compare error rates with pharmacist visual checks versus te...
| Publicado en: | American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy Vol. 73; no. 2; pp. 69 - 76 |
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| Autores principales: | , , |
| Formato: | research tables/charts Journal Article |
| Publicado: |
Oxford University Press / USA
1/15/2016
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=112160036&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ccm uiTerm: 112160036 longDbName: CINAHL Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: dissinfo: jinfo: jid: 10792082 1X3 jtl: American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy issn: 10792082 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: 1/15/2016 vid: 73 iid: 2 pid: 622 pub: Oxford University Press / USA artinfo: ui: 112160036 112160036 112160036 10.2146/ajhp150135 112160036 ppf: 69 ppct: 7 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P tig: atl: Comparison of barcode scanning by pharmacy technicians and pharmacists' visual checks for final product verification. aug: au: Nian-Tsi Wang, Bryan Brummond, Philip Stevenson, James G. affil: Munson Healthcare Grayling Hospital, Grayling, MI sug: subj: Bar Coding Pharmacists Pharmacy Technicians Drug Administration Medication Errors Prevention and Control Clinical Pharmacy Information Systems Human Descriptive Statistics Data Analysis Software Fisher's Exact Test Hawthorne Effect Survey Research ab: Purpose. The results of an evaluation of barcode verification by pharmacy technicians as an alternative to visual checking by pharmacists in the final stage of the dispensing process are reported. Methods. A two-phase study was conducted to compare error rates with pharmacist visual checks versus technician-operated barcode scanning for final verification of prepackaged unit dose medications dispensed from a satellite pharmacy of a large hospital. In phase 1 of the research, potential errors detected by technician barcode scanning after pharmacist visual checking and approval to dispense were measured over two weeks; in phase 2, dispensing errors not detected through technician scanning that were subsequently detected by pharmacist visual check were measured over three weeks. A time study was conducted to assess the amount of pharmacist time required for visual checks. Results. A total of 2015 medication doses dispensed during the study period were included in the analysis. Technician barcode scanning was found to be superior to visual checking by a pharmacist in detecting dispensing errors. The calculated time for a pharmacist to check unit doses averaged 5.93 seconds per check. The additional technician time required for barcode scanning versus pharmacist verification was not measured directly, but subjective analysis indicated that the increase in technician time was comparable to the corresponding decrease in pharmacist time. Conclusion. The use of pharmacy technician barcode checking is a safe alternative to a pharmacist's visual check and, in appropriate cases, can allow reallocation of pharmacist time to clinically oriented patient care services. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: research tables/charts Journal Article ougenre: Article language: English refInfo: holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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