Safe Medication Administration
Bar code medication administration (BCMA) systems are electronic scanning systems that use both a bar code on a patient’s ID bracelet and the medication package to help ensure the right patient gets the right medication at the right time. This measure assesses the percentage of units in which BCMA is used (including adult and pediatric med/surg units, critical care units, pre-operative and post anesthesia care units, and labor and delivery units), the percentage of medication administrations where both the patient and medication were scanned in units were BCMA is being used, the use of clinical decision support to alert nurses if something is wrong (i.e. wrong patient), and structures the hospital has in place to reduce workarounds that decrease the effectiveness of BCMA systems.
Reporting Period
- Latest 3 months prior to Survey submission
Patients Included in the Measure
- Inpatients (Patients who are admitted to the hospital for at least one overnight stay)
- Outpatients (Patients who are admitted and discharged on the same day)
- Adults and Children