Date of Conferral
2022
Degree
Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)
School
Nursing
Advisor
Julibeth Lauren
Abstract
The practice problem addressed in this Doctor of Nursing Practice project was safe medication administration in the emergency department (ED). Paper-based delivery of medication administration is prone to errors and multiple points of failure affecting patients’ safety. The gap in nursing practice was the lack of analysis regarding the efficacy of the barcoded medication administration (BCMA) process in the ED. The practice-focused question for this project addressed whether the implementation of BCMA in the ED effectively reduced medication administration errors as compared to the previously used paper-based, non-BCMA process. The aim of this doctoral project was to review the efficacy of BCMA technology in the ED by comparing adverse drug event rates before and after BCMA implementation. Lewin’s change theory was used as the framework to evaluate the change management that occurred before, during, and after BCMA implementation. The findings and retrospective analysis for this project demonstrated a significant reduction in medication errors post implementation by 68% (p = .024) during the initial 6 months and 63% (p =.027) 1-year post implementation, which indicates sustainability of the technology. Therefore, the recommendation based on these findings is for EDs to implement BCMA technology to reduce patient harm related to medication errors. This project has implications for positive social change, in that it may minimize patient harm related to medication errors and close a gap in nursing practice concerning the use of BCMA.
Recommended Citation
Vasserman, Aleksandr, "The Efficacy of Barcoded Medication Administration in the Emergency Department" (2022). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 11587.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/11587
