Bar Code Safety at Methodist

At Methodist we use bar codes along with an electronic medical record to ensure your safety as a patient.  Recently, The Healthcare Advisory Board released a report discussing the safety impact of using bar codes in the hospital setting and we'd like to share this information with you.  You should know that we take your safety very seriously and are committed to the most advanced technologies when it comes to patient care and your safety.

According to the New England Journal of Medicine, "using a bar code system to check patients' medications and dosages may significantly reduce drug transcription and administration errors."

According to the Healthcare Advisory Board May 7, 2010 Daily Briefing, combining bar code technology with Electronic Health Records throughout medical and surgical units and the ICU, hospitals reported that patients were:

• 57% less likely to receive the wrong drug;
• 42% less likely to receive the wrong dose;
• 61% less likely to receive a drug when none had been prescribed; and
• 27% less likely to receive a drug at the wrong time.

In addition, the study found that transcription errors fell from a rate of 6.1% to zero. The rate of potential adverse drug events also fell from 3.1% to 1.6%.

Data Source: The Healthcare Advisory Board