Tech in the pharmacy improves outcomes, med safety

by Steve Kessinger "Optimizing patient outcomes through interdisciplinary medication management" is our pharmacy department's purpose. Let me elaborate on our recent transition to fulfill that objective. The implementation of an electronic medical record (EMR) system has profoundly affected efforts to improve medication safety and advance pharmacy practice. Perhaps the most noteworthy endeavor has been the implementation of computerized physician order management (CPOM) functionality. Prior to this project, copies of hand-written medication orders were scanned to the pharmacy department for manual transcription into a patient's medication profile. Pharmacists spend most of their time reviewing and transcribing handwritten information into electronic data. Once a day, a paper copy of the medication administration record (MAR) was printed on the nursing unit. Nurses manually recorded doses administered and made hand-written changes to this medical record document as the medical staff made drug therapy changes during the day. These manual processes were problem-prone, subject to frequent illegibility issues, and relied on the unique skill and experience of the pharmacist to decipher the handwritten art form. With CPOM implementation, prescribers electronically transcribe their own medication orders into the patient record. New or modified orders are transmitted to an electronic-verification queue, where a pharmacist reviews them for appropriateness, drug interactions an...
Source: hospital impact - Category: Health Managers Authors: Source Type: blogs