Downloads
Case Study: Mobile Computers Help Minimize Medication Errors, Increase Patient Safety
Underwood-Memorial Hospital (Woodbury, N.J.) was in a search of a technology solution that would increase patient safety at the point-of-care (POC). In July 2007, the 305-licensed bed, acute-care hospital embarked on rolling out a mobile and wireless medication administration verification system that has reduced reported medication errors by 15%.
Last year, administration at Underwood-Memorial Hospital committed to making a stronger push for safety at the point-of-care. Specifically, the hospital wanted to focus on ensuring the 5 Rights of patient safety when administering medications by verifying: the right patient receives the right medication at the right time in the right dose via the right route. The hospital needed a solution that would minimize misidentification errors that could potentially lead to clinical errors.
After testing several different technology products, Underwood-Memorial chose the Cerner CareMobile system. The hospital also selected the Dolphin 9500 Mobile Computer from Honeywell for automatic barcode verification and to wirelessly transmit real-time patient information. To complete the solution, Underwood-Memorial put barcodes on all patients and medications within the hospital.
Typically hospitals mount the mobile computers' chargers at the nurses' station, but many are searching for a way to make the devices more accessible to nurses. By mounting chargers to the carts, accessing a charged mobile computer is easy and convenient.
The content you requested is only available to registered users of Hospital Network.com. By registering now, you'll get access to this piece of content and thousands of additional articles and product reviews across our entire network of sites.
