Potential use of bar codes to implement automated dispensing quality assurance programs

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Pharmacy Practice
• Quality Assurance

Background:

• Bar code systems are widely used for automation in healthcare.
• Existing manual methods for dispensing may not capture all necessary data effectively.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and test the feasibility of a bar code-based dispensing quality assurance system for a hospital outpatient pharmacy.
• To evaluate the system's ability to verify product identity and expiration dates.
• To assess the impact on prescription processing time.

Main Methods:

• A bar code-based system was designed and implemented in a hospital outpatient pharmacy.
• Feasibility was tested over a short period, including a simulation with pre-contrived dispensing errors.
• Processing time was compared to a control period without the system.

Main Results:

• The bar code system required minimal additional processing time per prescription.
• The system successfully identified all simulated medication errors and outdated products.
• No actual dispensing errors were detected during the brief on-site test.

Conclusions:

• Bar code-based systems are feasible for enhancing dispensing quality assurance in hospital pharmacies.
• These systems can effectively identify medication errors and outdated products, improving patient safety.
• Pharmacists should consider bar code systems for automating inventory, workflow, and dispensing quality assurance.