Medication Safety

Many leading researchers in the country have reported that medication errors are one of the largest causes of harm and patient death in the United Sates. In order to improve the quality of medication administration in our facilities, Presbyterian has invested in state-of-the-art technology to reduce errors and standardize care.

Examples of some of the technology that has been installed in the Albuquerque hospitals include:

Computerized Physician Order Entry – New software is being rolled out in the Albuquerque hospitals that allow physicians to enter their own medication orders directly into the electronic medical record. This process reduces the chance of transcription errors and helps to drive standardized practice.

Decentralized Pharmacist Staffing – The pharmacists at Presbyterian Hospital are located in satellite pharmacies around the facility to make them more accessible to clinical staff and to expedite the delivery of medications. This allows them to work more closely with nurses and physicians for consultations and patient rounding.

Single Dose Medication Packaging – When ever possible, medications are individually wrapped and bar-coded into single doses to reduce the chance of error.

Robot Controlled Medication Distribution – In the main pharmacy at Presbyterian, a robot named “Rosie” works non-stop reading physician orders and dispensing medications to be delivered to the nursing units. So far Rosie has never made a mistake and has never taken a coffee break.

Automated Medication Cabinets – Located on each nursing unit are electronic dispensing systems. These cabinets act like automated teller machines, helping to dispense the right medications at the right time for the right patients. The devices also eliminate the need to perform daily narcotic counts or to order medications for floor stock.

Bar-coding Scanners – Hand held wireless scanners used by nurses to administer meds. These devices display when medications are due and protect patients from receiving wrong doses. To administer a medication, the nurse first scanners her badge, then the medication barcode then the patient’s armband – if all is well the scanner signals the nurse to continue, if something is not right it signals to not give the medication. This device has greatly reduced medication errors, simplified charting and improved medication charging all at the same time.