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Updated: May 15, 2026
06:59
A Novel Approach for the Administration of Medications and Fluids in Emergency Scenarios and Settings
Published on: November 9, 2016
Bar-code-assisted medication administration: a method for predicting repackaging resource needs.
Jill Strykowski1, Ron Hadsall, Bethany Sawchyn
1Mercy Hospital, Allina Health, Coon Rapids, MN 55433, USA. jill.strykowski@allina.com
Summary
Bar-code-assisted medication administration (BCMA) systems require accurate product data. Addressing bar-code scanning failures, mainly due to missing labels or NDC issues, improved system success rates to over 96%.
Area of Science:
- Health Informatics
- Pharmacy Practice
- Patient Safety
Background:
- Bar-code-assisted medication administration (BCMA) systems are crucial for improving medication safety.
- Successful BCMA implementation relies on accurate product identification and scanning.
- Pre-implementation assessment of bar-code data and system compatibility is essential.
Purpose of the Study:
- To validate and test bar-code-assisted medication administration (BCMA) systems in a real-world hospital setting.
- To quantify bar-code scanning failures and identify their root causes.
- To estimate the staff resources required for BCMA implementation, including repackaging efforts.
Main Methods:
- Pharmacy inventories were assessed by scanning product bar codes using handheld devices.
- A custom database was developed to match National Drug Code (NDC) information from package labels with the BCMA database.
- Data analysis focused on quantifying scan failures, predicting repackaging needs, and estimating full-time equivalent (FTE) labor for repackaging.
Main Results:
- Approximately 12.5% of products exhibited scanning failures during inventory assessment.
- Primary causes for scan failures included missing bar-code labels (49-53%) and NDC recognition issues (38-46%).
- An estimated 8-10% of products required repackaging, necessitating 0.3-0.5 FTE technician labor.
Conclusions:
- The majority of bar-code scanning failures in BCMA systems are due to missing labels or NDC data inconsistencies.
- Addressing these data issues significantly improved scanning success rates.
- A pilot test demonstrated an overall scanning success rate exceeding 96% after resolving identified problems.
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