Survey Investigates Role Of Pharmacy In Technology Use In Hospitals
Results from the ASHP Survey of U.S. Hospital and Health System Adoption & Implementation of Health Information Technology found 51.2 percent of pharmacy information systems are integrated within a larger suite of products offered by a single manufacturer. Fewer (34.9 percent) are not part of a suite of products but are interfaced with other medication-use system technologies. Others (11 percent) are stand-alone systems.
"Hospitals and health systems have many different technological solutions to improve patient care. But using a variety of systems that aren't integrated may impact patient safety and lead to medication errors," said ASHP President Janet A. Silvester, M.B.A. "Integrating and standardizing the complex information exchange to create one source for patient and drug information can reduce errors and increase the safety of our patients."
The survey also found:
- Nearly 18 percent of hospitals have inpatient computerized provider order entry (CPOE) systems, and 54.2 percent of sites without CPOE systems plan to implement them within three years,
- Twenty-three percent of hospitals use barcode medication administration (BCMA) to verify the identity of patients and the accuracy of medication administration at the point-of-care, and 56 percent without BCMA systems plan to implement them within three years,
- Nearly 45 percent of hospitals use at least some components of electronic medical records,
- More than 20 percent of hospitals have ePrescribing systems for outpatient clinic medication orders,
- More than 80 percent of hospitals use automated storage and distribution devices in decentralized distribution systems, and
- Forty-four percent of hospitals use "smart" infusion pumps that use drug libraries that guide dose calculation, rates and drug administration.
Only 10 percent of hospitals use robotic drug distribution systems that automate the dispensing of unit dose inpatient medications in centralized distribution systems, according to the survey results. However, hospitals with 300 or more beds have a higher percentage of the systems than institutions with less than 300 beds.
Beyond data on a long list of technological devices, the survey provides insight into hospital staff members in pharmacy information technology positions and budget allocations for technology. For example, 30 percent of hospitals with pharmacy-employed informatics staff members expect those positions to increase over the next fiscal year, while 68.4 percent predict they'll stay the same.
The 124-question survey, sponsored by a grant from the McKesson Corporation, is the first ASHP survey that focuses solely on technology use in hospitals and hospital pharmacies. The inquiry takes stock of the informatics, technology and automation in hospitals and investigates how that technology is implemented and used by pharmacists and other healthcare professionals. The data will be available to pharmacy directors, other health professionals, and hospital staff and vendors involved in implementing technologies in their institutions.
The ASHP Section of Pharmacy Informatics and Technology developed the survey. The section serves ASHP members with interests in using informatics, technology and automation to improve the medication-use process.
ASHP sent the survey to hospital pharmacy directors late last year. Its results will be published in an upcoming issue of the American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy.
About ASHP
For more than 60 years, ASHP has helped pharmacists who practice in hospitals and health systems improve medication use and enhance patient safety. The Society's 30,000 members include pharmacists and pharmacy technicians who practice in inpatient, outpatient, home-care, and long-term-care settings, as well as pharmacy students. For more information about the wide array of ASHP activities and the many ways in which pharmacists help people make the best use of medicines, visit ASHP's Web site, http://www.ashp.org, or its consumer Web site, http://www.SafeMedication.
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