The impact of barcode-assisted medication administration on medication administration errors in non-unit-dose settings: a systematic review

Objective This study aims to investigate how barcode-assisted medication administration systems (BCMAs) can affect medication administration errors (MAEs) in non-unit-dose dispensing settings, since unit dose dispensing system can be a confounding variable affecting MAE rates.

We conducted a systematic review of articles on MEDLINE, EMBASE, EMCARE, CINAHL and Scopus. Studies are meticulously examined to exclude those with unit-dose dispensing setting.

We included 4 papers in the review. The categories of MAEs reported among these studies are heterogeneous. 2 studies give weak evidence and 1 study give moderate evidence that BCMA can lower some categories of MAEs. 1 studies gives weak evidence that BCMA increase the wrong administration time error.

Studies provide weak to moderate evidence that barcode-assisted medication administration can lower certain categories of medication administration errors. However, some reported findings are minimal.

More multi-ward multi-hospital studies need to be conducted to provide stronger evidence on BCMA’s impact on MAEs, especially on dosage-related MAEs, in settings without unit dose dispensing systems. Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Funding Statement This study did not receive any funding. Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes Data Availability Not applicable.