Mobile Medication Administration | MEDHOST

Smartphone technology helps reduce risk of medication errors, improve nurse and patient satisfaction for Colorado critical access hospital

FRANKLIN, Tenn. – December 13, 2016 – MEDHOST^®, a provider of market-leading enterprise, departmental and healthcare engagement solutions today announced the successful go-live of its Mobile Medication Administration (MMA) application at Mt. San Rafael Hospital in Trinidad, CO. The iOS application, which allows hospitals to manage bedside medication administration through a hand-held mobile device, is now generally available. Users at Mt. San Rafael found the technology reduces burdens on clinicians and helps reduce the risk of medication errors at the point of administration.

"The standard computers on wheels (COWs) are large and cumbersome, requiring nurses to haul them from room to room to scan the patient's wristband and medication," said Michael Archuleta, IT Director at Mt. San Rafael Hospital. "The new unit fits in a pocket and is more accurate than the wand scanner used with the COW, making it easier for nurses to identify the patient, match the drug and document the encounter. We've also received positive feedback from patients who like having the nurse come in the room with a smaller device rather than the big COW."

Scan Patient ID

Using an iPhone5 and low-light bar code scanner, the MMA provides access to the MEDHOST electronic medication record (eMAR), allowing clinicians to scan the patient ID and the medication. Nurses can easily view the medication history and other details regarding the patient's medicines. The app also lets nurses document missed doses, pain scales and vital signs associated with the medication.

The new application provides closed-loop medication administration and enables confirmation of the 'Five Rights of Medication Administration' – the right patient, the right drug, the right dose, the right route and the right time – to reduce the risk of errors and help ensure patient safety.

Reducing medication errors remains a high priority for hospitals:

• Approximately 400,000 adverse drug events (ADEs) occur in hospitals every year.¹
• The average hospital patient can expect, on average, to be subjected to more than one medication error each day.²
• Each preventable ADE in a hospital adds more than $8,000 to the cost of the hospital stay, representing an annual cost of nearly $3.5 billion.³
• Medication errors account for one out of every 854 inpatient deaths.⁴

The secure, user-friendly mobile application helps simplify the clinical workflow and transform the everyday medication process into an integrated, data-driven system.

"Medication administration is a critical component of a nurse's day that gets repeated many times each day," said Archuleta. "To make such a critical and common event more efficient – and safer for the patient – is a very big deal for our hospital."

About MEDHOST

MEDHOST is a provider of market-leading enterprise, departmental and healthcare engagement solutions to more than 1,100 healthcare facilities. Our healthcare management system especially includes intuitive, easy-to-use and SaaS-enabled solutions. Also,  YourCareUniverse, an integrated suite of cloud-based patient and provider engagement applications. Our robust offering of managed hosting, outsourcing and consulting services are changing how clinicians and hospital leaders work and communicate, while generating notable operational, patient flow, care and revenue improvements. Specifically, MEDHOST delivers value by enabling hospitals of all types and all sizes. Especially, this is to better manage care and the business of healthcare while meeting evolving regulatory requirements. However, Connect with MEDHOST on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Contact:

Samra Khan
Tel: (615) 761-2119
samra.Khan@medhost.com

¹Preventing Medication Errors, Report Brief, Institute of Medicine, July 2006. The report referenced studies showing adverse drug events (ADEs) ranging from 380,000 to 450,000 per year in the US. Also, went on to conclude that these figures were likely to be underestimates.
²Preventing Medication Errors, Report Brief, Institute of Medicine, July 2006
³Preventing Medication Errors, Report Brief, Institute of Medicine, July 2006
⁴Patient Safety and Quality: An Evidence-Based Handbook for Nurses, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), 2008