PICO

Running head: PICO
PICO
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author’s note

1PICO
Population of interest:
The topic is focussed on reduction of medication errors using the barcode system. The
population group who is most likely to be affected by the intervention includes hospitalized
patients particularly elderly as patient misidentification is a major cause behind medication errors
and bar code system is implemented to reduce medication errors related to wrong dose, wrong
route and extra dose (Khammarnia, Kassani& Eslahi, 2015). Hence, elderly patients are most
likely to be affected by this intervention as it will reduce length of hospitalization and cost
associated with care. Patient safety is promoted by the intervention as it support nurse in
confirming patient identification and appropriately following medication error. Elderly people
are most likely to be influenced by the intervention as medication prescribing errors is high in
this patient group because of polypharmacy which increases the chances of incorrect
administration (Szczepura, Wild & Nelson, 2011). Therefore, finding ways to reduce medication
errors in this population group is necessary.
Intervention:
To resolve the issue of medication error, the intervention that is of interest includes the
use of bar code system. Barcode is a technology that is used in combination with electronic
medical record to automatically document drug administration by means of bar scanning. It has
been implemented in hospitals to reduce medical errors by providing reliable information about
patient care (Hachesu, Zyaei & Hassankhani, 2016). However, effective use of barcode
technology is not clear. Therefore, by defining the intervention specific to the research topic, it is
possible to extract more studies and find better idea about role of bar code in reduction of