In the final segment of our Avoiding Medication Errors series, we offer some components to consider regarding costs and some “lessons learned” shared by our clients. Our intention is to provide some guidance to those who are planning for Bedside Medication Verification (BMV).
1. LOOK AT THE NETWORK
Analyze and make any necessary upgrades to the health and capacity of your network infrastructure to support wireless devices. Don’t forget to plan for future needs for Point of Care (POC) devices including handhelds and PDAs that physicians and other clinical practices will want to use for not only BMV, but also EHR bedside documentation and CPOE.
2. ESTABLISH UNIT DOSE PACKAGING
Establish unit dose packaging with readable barcode language for your medications. This can be costly and create significant work for the pharmacy, but is necessary to effectively implement BMV and meet the established guidelines and standards.
3. EXAMINE THE WORKFLOW
Analyze and Map your existing and future nurse workflows to understand how medications are currently administered at the bedside and how those workflows will change with the implementation of BMV. This should include a risk assessment of the various models for BMV being considered. Once a thorough risk assessment is completed and the best model is selected for a particular workflow, a thorough training program that includes routine evaluation and possible modifications with scheduled repeat retraining should be documented and implemented to track ongoing progress and outcomes.
4. DETERMINE THE DEVICE RATIOS
Plan for enough mobile devices to adequately support your clinical staff. This includes nursing, RT, laboratory and blood bank technicians and any area that will be looking to document procedures at the point of care. It has been found that the number of mobile device required is more than the number of beds on an inpatient unit. This reduces the wait time clinicians may encounter in gaining access to the EHR, increases real time documentation at the POC, minimizes work arounds and fosters greater adoption of BMV by all parties.
5. NO TWO CULTURES ARE ALIKE
Every organization has their own unique culture. Taking this into consideration, while recognizing and planning for the significant impact on nursing, will promote the success of BMV implementation in your organization.
6. ENSURE PROPER BUY-IN
Involve Senior Management and gain their fervent support. This is critical to the successful adoption of any implementation. Identify key champions across various disciplines that can promote the goal of reducing medication errors and increasing patient safety.
7. PLAN UPFRONT FOR THE TRAINING
Establish purposeful and well planned training for clinical staff. Nurses view their role as a patient caregiver. Some may not be strong computer users and will need additional time and training to strengthen this skill. Highly educated, computer literate nurses minimize end user issues and foster higher adoption rates, ultimately improving the nurse/patient experience.
8. COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE
Communicate your results and outcomes with the bedside nursing staff. Establish venues to share lessons learned among staff. This will increase ownership of the BMV process and demonstrates better adoption rates with increased nursing and patient satisfaction.
Remember that statistics show that a solidly planned and implemented BMV process avoids medication errors, increases nursing/patient satisfaction and improves patient outcomes.
