ANSWER
Application of Health Information Technology to Improve Nursing Practice Safety: A Discussion
Use of Course Knowledge 1. Present-Day Safety Issue:
Medication administration errors are a serious safety concern in my practice, especially when they result from confusing or insufficient documentation in electronic health records (EHRs). Patient safety may be compromised by these mistakes, which may lead to missed prescriptions, improper dosages, or unfavorable drug interactions.
2. Health Information Technology (HIT) to combat the Issue: The Barcode Medication Administration (BCMA) system is one HIT method to combat medication mistakes. To ensure that the proper patient receives the right drug at the right time, BCMA uses barcode scanning technology.
3. Use to Improve Safety: BCMA improves safety through:
ensuring that, when administering medication, the five rights are checked: patient, medication, dose, route, and time.
minimizing inconsistencies by integrating with EHRs to update medication information instantly.
delivering warnings for possible mistakes, such taking the wrong prescription or scheduling conflicts.
providing a digital trail to enhance auditing and accountability.
Before administering medication, for instance, a nurse scans the patient’s identification bracelet and the barcode. The technology verifies correctness by comparing the data with the EHR, avoiding mistakes like giving a medication that isn’t prescribed.
4. Unintended Consequence: Alert fatigue may result from the deployment of BCMA; nurses may receive a lot of system-generated warnings, some of which are non-critical or false positives. Missed important warnings and desensitization may result from this.
5. Unintended Consequence Mitigation Strategy:
In order to lessen alert fatigue:
To suppress non-urgent alerts and prioritize vital warnings, use tiered alert systems.
To cut down on pointless warnings, include frontline nurses in customizing system settings.
To guarantee accuracy and relevance, conduct routine checks and updates of the BCMA alert database.
By ensuring that the BCMA system continues to function effectively without overburdening personnel, these steps promote efficiency and safety.
Combining the Evidence
Strudwick et al. (2018) claim that by enhancing documentation accuracy and verification procedures, BCMA systems lower medication delivery errors.
Anselmi et al.’s study from 2021 highlights how crucial it is to address user interface design in order to reduce alert fatigue and increase adoption rates.
According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) (2021), adding clinical decision support systems to BCMA can improve its usefulness even further by adding alerts tailored to individual patients.
Communication Professionalism
This conversation highlights how crucial it is to use HIT to address safety issues and incorporate evidence-based practices to enhance patient care. BCMA is one example of a clear, practical strategy that shows how advanced nursing practice can proactively improve results.
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, cited in 2021. Tools and resources for health IT. taken from the website https://www.ahrq.gov
Anselmi, M. L., Dos Santos, D., & Pedreira, M. L. G. (2021). An investigation on the obstacles to the use of health IT solutions regarding medication errors in intensive care units. 21(1), 78; BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making. 10.1186/s12911-021-01459-4 https://doi.org
Nagle, L., Strudwick, G., Trbovich, P., & McGillis Hall, L. (2018). A qualitative investigation of the variables influencing nurse practice to support the use of barcode drug administration in acute care settings. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-018-0294-7 BMC Nursing, 17, 14.
QUESTION
Follow these guidelines when completing each component of the discussion. Contact your course faculty if you have questions.
General Instructions
Include the following sections:
Application of Course Knowledge: Answer all questions/criteria with explanations and detail.
Describe a current safety concern in your practice environment.
Explain one HIT that could be applied to address the concern.
Explain how it could be applied to enhance safety.
Identify at least one possible unintended consequence of adopting the HIT.
Discuss at least one strategy for mitigating the unintended consequence.
Integration of Evidence: Integrate relevant scholarly sources as defined by program expectations:
Cite a scholarly source in the initial post..
Include a minimum of three different scholarly sources per week. Cite all references and provide references for all citations.
Communicate using respectful, collegial language and terminology appropriate to advanced nursing practice.
Professionalism in Communication: Communicate with minimal errors in English grammar, spelling, syntax, and punctuation.
Reference Citation: Use current APA format to format citations and references and is free of errors.