Abstract
The Veterans Health Administration uses a software application called Bar Code Medication Administration (BCMA) to assist in medication administration. The wireless application is typically operated on a desktop or laptop computer, physically located on a mobile cart during med passes. It works with a handheld bar code reader to scan patient wristbands and their medications to verify a match between the patient identified and the medications scheduled at the time of the scanning. Since replacing the paper-based system with this technology the rate of medication errors has declined significantly. After a participatory design process developing an overview display for BCMA, it was concluded such an additional view on the patient and medication data has promising safety and efficiency benefits by (1) integrating the current med pass view with a broader summary of medications active in +/− 24 hours and the patient's condition, so that relationships can more easily be seen; and a natural direct manipulation mechanism to zoom in for more details would be provided; (2) including a picture of the patient as an additional form of identification; (3) supporting perceptual and mechanical filtering to separate medications by attributes (e.g. time due and status) and facilitate efficient situation awareness and prioritization of actions; (4) including status information for medication orders in other nurses' med passes so they can more easily collaborate; (5) for each medication showing both the last action and next action, so that status information can be used to maintain awareness of what has happened and is going to happen from a medication perspective.
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