Outcome 3

Demonstrate skills in using patient care technologies, information systems, and communication devices that support safe nursing practice in a variety of healthcare settings.

The first thing that came to mind when reading the post for this week was the new scanning process for medications. Scanning medications isn’t new, but the process has changed and now all units within the hospital where I work are required to scan where this wasn’t the case until just this month.
Scanning patient medications and the patient identification band on the unit I used to work on was always best practice, however, it wasn’t always done in real time and often, medications were “overrode” for nurse convenience and speed when giving medications. Now, nurses are required to scan the patient band and the medication in real time.

If the medication is a “high alert” medication (some vasoactives, insulin, heparin/lovenox, pediatric medications, PCA and PCEA) another nurse is required to witness and scan their badge into the system for proof that they witnessed the correct medication being given to the correct patient in the correct dose.

This change was not happily accepted as it took time to find another nurse to go into the room with you and made medication administration slower. The process has improved patient safety and decreased medication errors.

The new unit I work on has just started the scanning process. Although some nurses are upset, most have embraced the change because of the benefits. Real time charting, patient safety, and it really is easier than having to go in and document everything by hand.