Improving the safety and efficiency of nurse medication rounds through the introduction of an automated dispensing cabinet.

ABSTRACT: Information technology (IT) systems are being utilised with increasing frequency at the prescribing and dispensing stage of the medicines-use process in UK hospitals. However, much less development has taken place with regard to the implementation of IT systems at the administration stage of medicines-use. A technology that has been implemented widely at the administration stage in North American hospitals is the automated dispensing cabinet (ADC), which has been shown to reduce nurse medication administration errors and reduce the time that nurses spend administering medication. The current project was undertaken to assess whether these benefits would be realised with the introduction of an ADC on an inpatient ward in a UK mental health hospital. Nurses were observed administering medicat

SUBMITTER: Cottney A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4645698 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature