Preventing medication errors with MARS?

[CatherineG87]

I am a new nurse working at a facility in which we use paper MARS. I am wondering if there are any other nurses out there who use it to ask what does your facility do prevent medication errors? We have orders e-mailed, printed out and filed in client's charts, have made a checklist that is done weekly to follow through that staff and clients are initialing, etc. I am the one who transcribes orders onto the MARS and distribute the morning and afternoon medications, and then bag for evening and weekend medications. The small baggies that we use I include client initials, time of administration, date, name of drug and dosage, and baggies are place in envelopes with the day on it. The therapists administer medications during the evenings and weekends.

Is there anything else that you do for patient safety?

[EverNurseRN]

copies of each order obtained throughout the day/eve are left in a designated folder where i work and each night the nurse on duty goes through and verifies accurate transcription on the mars. it's a very quick process, takes ten minutes at the most, and has drastically reduced errors.

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

1. Have two licensed people to double check high risk medications

2. Confirm with Pharmacy or MD as needed

3. Use only JC approved abbreviations

4. Check patient ID before administering meds

5. Have drug reference available, including what cannot be crushed plus what meds are at risk for drug/food interactions

6. Have periodic competency check for whomever is administering meds.

7. Provide education on med. admin (for instance, Humulin and Humalog are frequently confused)

There are probably others but these are my first thoughts.