Kaiser Permanente Panorama City Hospital Further Increases Patient Safety With Medication Bar Code Scanning
Posted on: Thursday, 10 July 2008, 15:00 CDT
Kaiser Permanente announced today that Panorama City is the first Kaiser Permanente hospital in Southern California to implement medication bar code scanning technology to confirm that the right patient gets the prescribed medication in the appropriate dose.
"In addition to the multiple identification checks that we already have in place, medication bar code scanning increases safety for our patients," states Dennis Benton, Panorama City Hospital executive director.
"When administering a medication, the medical professional will first be required to scan the patient's wristband so the bar code can be read by the bedside KP HealthConnect computer terminal to confirm the accuracy of the medication type and dosage," notes Benton.
The initial phase of Kaiser Permanente's nationwide electronic medical records system, KP HealthConnect, 'went live' in the Panorama City hospital in September, 2007, allowing physicians and staff to electronically admit, transfer and discharge patients. With today's implementation of the final phase of KP HealthConnect, Panorama City physicians and staff will be working almost exclusively with electronic records. This phase will incorporate computerized physician order entry; access to electronic lab tests, x-rays, MRIs and other diagnostic imaging; clinical documentation; as well as the ability to schedule operating rooms, operating room equipment and room setup.
All Kaiser Permanente hospitals in Southern California will be on line with medication bar code scanning by the end of 2009.
Kaiser Permanente is a nonprofit health maintenance organization serving more than 6.1 million members throughout the state of California. In Southern California, Kaiser Permanente's more than 3.3 million members are served by more than 6,000 physicians and nearly 50,000 technical, administrative and clerical employees and caregivers at 12 major medical centers throughout the region. Kaiser Permanente Panorama City Medical Center Area has been providing health care to area residents of the East San Fernando Valley since 1962 employing nearly 4,000 physicians and staff. Our new, state-of-the-art Panorama City hospital opened March 25, 2008.
Source: Business Wire
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