John Poikonen

ASHP Statement on bar-code-enabled medication administration technology

The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) encourages health systems to adopt bar-code-enabled medication administration (BCMA) technology to improve patient safety and the accuracy of medication administration and documentation. To support the goal of having all medications electronically verified before they are administered, BCMA systems should be used in all areas of health systems in which medications are used. Pharmacists must be involved in the interdisciplinary planning, development, implementation, and management of BCMA systems and must ultimately be responsible for developing and maintaining the infrastructure required to ensure BCMA success. Health systems deploying BCMA programs must provide the funding and staffing necessary to permit pharmacists to fulfill this role. ASHP urges the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other regulatory agencies, standard-setting bodies, contracting entities, health systems, and others to mandate that pharmaceutical manufacturers use symbologies that are readily deciphered by commonly used scanning equipment to code for the National Drug Code (NDC), lot number, and expiration date on all unit dose, unit-of-use, and injectable drug packaging. Pharmaceutical manufacturers should also provide all medications used in health systems in unit dose packages. FDA, pharmaceutical manufacturers and packagers, and the manufacturers of BCMA systems should collaborate to minimize or eliminate the causes of false rejection of valid medication doses. Certain characteristics of the current NDC identification system contribute to the burden of implementing BCMA systems, and ASHP urges stakeholders to participate in efforts to develop a system that more reliably identifies the unique drug (or combination of drugs), strength, dosage form, and route of administration. Although bar-coding systems are currently a widely used point-of-care technology, ASHP recognizes that other types of machine-readable coding (e.g., radio-frequency identification) may evolve. ASHP supports the use of new technologies that are as effective as or improve upon existing systems and believes the principles outlined in this statement apply to such systems. ASHP urges further research on such systems as well as research that will definitively determine the extent to which BCMA systems reduce preventable medication errors and provide a financial return on investment for health systems.

Whither pharmacy informatics

A quick overview of responses in the ASHP listserver in the section of Pharmacy Informatics and Technology revealed that responders who think of themselves as pharmacy informaticists have a variety of backgrounds and experiences. Although most pharmacists today have little or no formal training in

The Pharmacist and the EHR

The adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) across the United States has impacted the methods by which health care professionals care for their patients. It is not always recognized, however, that pharmacists also actively use advanced functionality within the EHR. As critical members of the health care team, pharmacists utilize many different features of the EHR. The literature focuses on 3 main roles: documentation, medication reconciliation, and patient evaluation and monitoring. As health information technology proliferates, it is imperative that pharmacists’ workflow and information needs are met within the EHR to optimize medication therapy quality, team communication, and patient outcomes.

An informatics perspective on nearly universal prospective order review

In his commentary advocating the study and potential elimination of nearly universal prospective order review (NUPOR), Flynn makes the case that time spent in this activity is time not being spent on higher-level pharmacist activity.[1][1] With clinical decision support (CDS) systems embedded in

A new term for transcribing.

The medication-use process involves prescribing, transcribing, dispensing, administration, monitoring, and patient education. In the age of informatics, it is time to consider different terms for “transcribe” and “transcribing” in particular. To transcribe implies a rote process with no

Lack of clear statement and outrage from ASHP on Cropp case

The lack of comment and action by ASHP on the Eric Cropp case is disturbing. The story of Cropp, the pharmacist who was jailed because of a medication error, is shocking. The Institute for Safe Medication Practices has documented and spoken out on this issue,[1][1] yet ASHP remains silent. ASHP has

Sharing experiences with information technology

Pharmacy is a profession focused on a responsibility to patients.[1][1] Pharmacy practice is constantly evolving to ensure that patients receive the best outcomes from their medication therapy. The changes we see in practice are often evolutionary in nature. Sometimes, however, new ideas, processes