Siemens deploys full medication management system
Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center, an 864-bed multi-specialty hospital in Brooklyn, N.Y., will be integrating Siemens Medical Solutions' Med Administration Check (MAC) application with its Invision computerized physician order entry (CPOE) system to automate the medication process from the physician's initial order all the way to the patient at the bedside.
   
KJMC had been using Siemens' Invision since 1998. Taking its patient safety strategy to the next level, Siemens' MAC application uses bar code technology to alert nurses to potential medication administration errors, and Siemens Pharmacy information system.
   
The entire system uses two-way wireless interfaces among all of the applications to create a "closed loop" between medication ordering and administration, and incorporates clinical decision support, lab results, and nursing documentation into the electronic health record.
   
KJMC will be able to track, quantify and analyze potential medication errors.
   
KJMC is using computers containing electronic medical records mounted on special mobile medication carts that are also equipped with wireless, bar code scanners. The bar code on each medication to be administered is scanned, and the system automatically checks the scanned medication against the medication order entered electronically by the physician. If there is a mismatch, the system immediately notifies the nurse with a visual alert.
   
For KJMC's pharmacists, MAC supports them by decreasing calls to prescribers to clarify drug dosing regimens and illegible handwritten medication orders. It also decreases errors in medication order transcription from CPOE to the Pharmacy system and decreases other workflow interruptions and non-value-added work.
   
KJMC joins McLeod Health of Florence, S.C., which was the first hospital in the country to fully utilize Siemens complete closed-loop medication management system to completely automate the medication process.
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