ASHP recently released a statement on barcode verification of product in the pharmacy. As many of us are aware, barcoding at the point of medication administration (BCMA) is a common, albeit controversial technology that many hospitals and health systems are installing or evaluating. Barcode verification is considered by some to be a necessary precursor for successful BCMA implementation, as it adds a safety validation step to medications as they are put into pharmacy inventory, or removed to be used in auxiliary dispensing mechanisms. This initiative can also improve BCMA compliance by forcing the pharmacy to develop a workflow for ensuring 100% of products that leave the pharmacy are accurately barcoded. This type of barcoding process is an intensive undertaking for many pharmacy operations, requiring inpatient operations to re-distribute personnel to meet the demand of touching every product without a barcode. Some medications are already barcoded for us by manufacturers, others get a barcode from our Pharmacy Information System when patient specific labels are printed, and the rest require the manual addition of a readable, standardized barcode by a human or automated device. Pharmaceutical distributors many also offer barcoding/repackaging programs, allowing pharmacies to purchase repackaged and barcoded medications in ready to use containers for a fee.
The inventory verification step is an important and often overlooked technology by many organizations that are faced with EHR adoption or meeting Meaningful Use. Overall a very well designed position statement by my friends, colleagues, and ASHP. If you would like a copy of this statement, please contact me.
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