Abstract
A number of technological advances are becoming incorporated into institutional pharmacy practice in order to reduce the frequency and severity of medication errors. One of these has great promise. They deal with intravenous (IV) medication safety systems, wherein customized drug software is interfaced with “intelligent” infusion pumps. This paper describes the implementation and initial evaluation of Hospira's MedNet decision support infusion software in a five-hospital health care system in Pennsylvania. All of the steps are reviewed (identification of stakeholders, evaluation of software capabilities, evaluation of institution-specific practices, decisions regarding standard operating procedures, writing of the drug libraries, and preparation for “going live”) in detail. In addition, the initial results of the system are described, especially with respect to potential medication errors avoided. The well-documented medication error avoidance potential of such systems has proven useful in a clinical setting.
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