條碼科技於護理給藥之運用

Applying Bar Code Technology in Nurses' Medication Administration

條碼是一種可以被機器讀取的圖像，內容包含字母、數字或二者皆有的資料，由不同寬窄的條紋和間隔組成，條碼掃瞄可取代傳統使用鍵盤輸入資料的過程。從1970年代開始，醫療機構便開始嘗試應用條碼科技，而現今臨床上用於病人辨識、檢體核對、輸血核對、給藥確認等，藉由條碼可雙重核對的特性，以促進病人安全。一個專業護理人員必需維護病人的用藥安全，然而臨床護理人員，往往因為各種原因，在準備用藥的過程出現一些潛在或現存的問題。將條碼科技運用於給藥過程，配合電子化給藥紀錄，不但可以預防用藥疏失並提高給藥正確性，還可確實地完成給藥紀錄。本文將簡介條碼科技及條碼給藥系統，並進一步探討條碼給藥系統的推行成效及考量，期望帶領讀者對條碼給藥系統有深一層的認識。

A bar code is a machine-readable, graphic representation of data that allows the use of a combination of bars and spaces of varying widths to obviate the need for manual keyboard data entry. Bar code technology is currently used in patient identification, laboratory specimen identification, blood transfusion and medication administration verification applications. Bar coding has also been employed to provide critical double checks for patient safety. Nurses should safeguard patients from medication errors. However, clinical nurses are sometimes the cause of problems in preparing medication due to various reasons. The introduction of bar code technology with electronic medication administration record could both help prevent medication errors and ensure the completeness of medication records. This paper briefly introduces bar code technology and bar code medication administration and reviews the efficiency of such systems and implementation issues. The goal is to provide an informative overview of bar code medication administration.