Medical errors are a major contributor to patient dissatisfaction and poor health. This can be due to human error, or faulty equipment. It is important for hospitals and physicians to do their part in reducing the number of medical errors by implementing practices that follow the five rights of medication administration: Right Patient, Right Drug, Right Dose, Right Route, and Right Time.
This is ensured by verifying patient information at touchpoints throughout your practice right from when they first walk into your office until after they go home from discharge. This helps to reduce medical errors which adversely affect both patient satisfaction and patient health. To find out more about how to go about this, read on!
What are medication errors?
It is estimated that medication errors cause 1 of 131 outpatient and 1 of 854 inpatient deaths. Medication errors are any event that is preventable which may cause patient harm or incorrect medication use, while the medication is still under the control of health care professionals, patients, or consumers.
How does verifying patient information reduce medication errors?
A hospital can ensure that the right patient is getting the right treatment at the right time by verifying patient information at different stages with the help of hospital information software which encourages the use of electronic/digital medical records.
The five rights of medication administration are vital to the treatment of a patient. WHO has even introduced a patient safety checklist or the surgical safety checklist to ensure this, especially in cases of surgeries. The data required to follow these checklists are collected and made available through hospital management software.
For example, many hospitals depend on external specialist surgeons who come in on an appointed date and conduct surgeries for several patients on the same day. The checklist which contains the patient details like the patient’s name, identification, medical records, etc helps to avoid confusion and errors.
What is the role of Hospital management software in the verification process?
Hospital management software eases this process by providing a platform for easy access to patient data. In addition to this, it also provides features to categorize patient information which helps to search and find the information required. Below are a few examples :
- Search and retrieve patient details by name, mobile number, MR No, or government ID.
- Patient Details are highlighted and displayed in the Heads Up Display with information on the patient’s identity, demographics, allergies, photos, and quick links to the EMR data.
- Role-based access to protect data even at the EMR document level.
- Categorizing patients into confidentiality groups so that only specifically designated users are authorized to access your data.
The verification process is a necessary step that a hospital has to take to ensure the safety and satisfaction of its patients and to deliver excellent patient care.
Insta by Practo provides a one-stop solution by integrating all the data you require on a single screen. At the same time, our hospital management software facilitates categorization and restricted access to these data to ensure error-free and quick verification.
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Reference:
(MERP N. Taxonomy of medication errors. 2004 ) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6371341/#r9-2976724
( Donaldson MS, Corrigan JM, Kohn LT. To err is human: building a safer health system: National Academies Press. 2000.)
