System to Prevent Medication Errors

A new closed system based on a tablet PC includes a program for recording the names of all the patients in a hospital ward, the medications they are to be given, how they are to be administered, and when they are to be administered. The system is designed to help ensure that the correct medication is given to the correct patient at the correct time.

A doctor enters all the medication orders on the tablet PC, which is connected to a central server that relays the orders to a computerized medicine cabinet containing a drawer for each drug. When the nurse enters a patient's name on the cabinet's console, the appropriate drawers open automatically. The nurse takes out the drugs and puts them in a drawer that serves only that patient and is on a computerized cart, with the patient's name displayed on a small digital screen built into each drawer. Thus, the nurse goes through the list, patient by patient, filling up all the drawers. When she gives medications to a patient, she has to type on the cart's keyboard that the patient has received the drug.

The system, called ServeRx, is being commercialized by MDG Medical (Tel Aviv, Israel; www.mdgmedical.com). A trial is underway at Sheba Hospital in Tel Hasomer (Israel).

"In Israeli hospitals, the medical staff conducts daily visits to all the patients and the senior physician writes a list of medications that each patient is to receive,” said Dr. Gilead Asseo, of MDG. "The nurses try to understand the doctors' handwriting, which is not always clear, and copy the orders into the orders book. The orders are then copied again into the medications book.” A nurse puts each medication in a cup, labels it with the medication name, and then distributes the medications from a tea cart. MDG says this system offers many opportunities for errors.




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