Reference Materials

The Pharmacist Toolkit for Implementing a Bar Coding Medication Safety Program is provided by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Research and Education Foundation and was made possible by an unrestricted educational grant from Omnicell. To begin development of the tool, in August 2003 the ASHP Foundation assembled a panel of experts on the application of bar coding to prevent medication errors. This panel established the initial framework for this document and served as reviewers as content was developed. Writing, editorial, and project management services were provided by IDentityHealth, Inc. of San Diego, CA.

The purpose of this worksheet is to guide the hospital in calculating the potential savings resulting from the implementation of technology to reduce medication errors. The amount of savings will vary, depending on organizational characteristics and the technologies under consideration. Suggested users include senior management and department leaders involved with product evaluation, selection, and purchase.
The results of this worksheet can help to direct the hospital toward technologies that offer the most value for the organization in terms of medication safety and financial return. Sources of information would include the results of the organizational assessment and IT vendors.

This table is intended to help the hospital assess its needs (i.e., features that are "must have" versus "nice to have") and evaluate the capabilities of competing products. It can be used by a medication error prevention implementation team that is charged with (1) determining the hospital's priorities for interventions to prevent medication errors and (2) selecting vendor products that can meet those needs.

The purpose of this checklist is to help the hospital plan for the implementation of new technologies and record its progress over time. It is meant to be used initially by senior management and departmental leaders, and then updated regularly by a multidisciplinary implementation team.

This tool is intended to help the organization assess the various processes involved in the delivery of medications and identify areas that would benefit from technological support. It may be used by senior management and departmental leaders at each step of the organization's medication use process.

A comprehensive annotated bibliography of BPOC-related publications.