The impact of BCMA on patient safety
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The impact of BarCode Medication Administration on Patient Safety (BCMAPS) in UK hospital settings: a mixed-methods realist evaluation
IRAS ID
338756
Contact name
Bryony Dean Franklin
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Imperial College London, Research and Governance Integrity Team
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 2 months, days
Research summary
Barcode medication administration (‘BCMA’) is a technology used during medication administration in hospitals. BCMA involves nurses using a scanner to scan barcodes on patients’ wristbands and on boxes of medication during the medication round. Nurses then receive an alert on their computer if they scan a medication or a patient that does not match that expected by the system. BCMA is used because it is believed to help nurses give medication safely, but there is little evidence to confirm whether or not this is the case.
We want to find out in what situations BCMA works well, and why, to support patient safety.
This study will be done over four phases.
1. We will look at relevant national guidance and policy documents, as well as the existing research literature, to develop a preliminary model for how BCMA is supposed to work.
2. We will then interview key stakeholders who are involved in the introduction and use of BCMA in UK hospitals, to further test and develop this preliminary model.
3. We will then test this model by collecting data in clinical practice. We will observe nurses administering medication in hospital wards that have BCMA installed, and we will interview both patients and nurses to explore how they think BCMA can support patient safety. We will also look at the alerts that nurses receive from the BCMA system to find out if these are helpful in preventing errors.
4. We will review and change our preliminary model based on the data we collect. We will use this final model to make recommendations to hospital organisations on how BCMA should best be used to support patient safety.
REC name
South Central - Oxford B Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/SC/0326
Date of REC Opinion
8 Oct 2024
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion