NUR 440: PICO Analysis of Barcode System for Medication Errors

This assignment provides a detailed PICO(T) analysis, a framework for structuring research questions, focusing on the reduction of medication errors. The analysis centers on the use of barcode systems in healthcare settings, specifically examining its effectiveness in reducing medication errors in elderly patients. The assignment identifies the population of interest as elderly hospitalized patients, the intervention as the barcode system, and the comparison as standard drug administration processes. The primary outcome of interest is the reduction in adverse events related to medication errors, with a time frame of one year. The analysis highlights the importance of barcode technology in improving patient safety by supporting nurses in patient identification and correct medication administration, especially in light of the increased risk of errors due to polypharmacy in elderly patients. The assignment concludes with a specific PICOT question to guide further research into the effectiveness of barcode technology.

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
medication errors in elderly and evaluate the staff’s experience related to the use of bar code
technology in daily practice.

2PICO
Comparison:
In hospital settings, when barcode medication administration system is not used, then
nurses engage in administering medication by use of standard medication administration process
using their own judgment. Hence, the comparator for the research question is route drug
administration process. The chosen intervention can be compared with routine drug
administration process to find out which is more superior in reducing drug administration errors.
Standard drug administration process has been chosen as the comparator as the topic focuses on
medication errors due to drug administration. Therefore, standard process can be compared with
new intervention.
Outcome:
The main outcome of interest for the research is reduction in rate of adverse events for
patients related to drug administration errors. By defining this research outcome, search for those
literatures can be done where evidence has been provided for decrease in potential adverse drug
event with the introduction of barcode technology.
Time frame:
The time frame under which the effect of the intervention can be understood includes one
year. Hence, the research can focus on identifying how bar code reduces rate of medication
errors within one year.
Based on the above description of population, intervention, comparison and outcome, the
PICOT question that can guide the search process includes the following:
What is the effectiveness of barcode technology (I) compared to standard drug administration
process (C) in reducing medication errors or adverse drug event (O) in elderly patients (P) in
one year (T)?

3PICO
References:
Hachesu, P. R., Zyaei, L., & Hassankhani, H. (2016). Recommendations for Using Barcode in
Hospital Process. Acta informatica medica : AIM : journal of the Society for Medical
Informatics of Bosnia & Herzegovina : casopis Drustva za medicinsku informatiku
BiH, 24(3), 206–210. doi:10.5455/aim.2016.24.206-210
Khammarnia, M., Kassani, A., & Eslahi, M. (2015). The Efficacy of Patients' Wristband Bar-
code on Prevention of Medical Errors: A Meta-analysis Study. Applied clinical
informatics, 6(4), 716–727. doi:10.4338/ACI-2015-06-R-0077
Szczepura, A., Wild, D., & Nelson, S. (2011). Medication administration errors for older people
in long-term residential care. BMC geriatrics, 11, 82. doi:10.1186/1471-2318-11-82