MRHC ANNOUNCES IMPLEMENTATION OF ADVANCED PATIENT SAFETY MEASURE: TAR (TRANSFUSION ADMINISTRATION RECORD)
Magnolia Regional Health Center has recently implemented the use of an electronic Transfusion Administration Record (TAR) as part of its ongoing initiative to provide better quality of care and information safety to their patients by utilizing information technology.
“Magnolia Regional Health Center is excited to be one of the first hospitals in the nation to implement TAR,” stated Rick Napper, MRHC CEO & President. “This is one of many electronic advancements in patient safety that allows MRHC to continue to provide the highest quality care to our patients.”
Implemented at MRHC on March 29, 2010, TAR helps healthcare organizations, such as Magnolia Regional Health Center, to achieve their patient safety initiatives. The electronic transfusion verification system utilizes bar code technology. The nurse scans the patient’s bar coded wristband, the blood product’s bar coded label, and the user ID bar code at the bedside using either tethered or wireless scanners. The system verifies that the patient and blood product are both correct and allows the nurse to proceed with the transfusion. The nurse has the ability to document vital signs, the start and end time, as well as any transfusion reactions. The TAR application is fully integrated with MEDITECH’s Blood Bank application, Electronic Medical Record (EMR) and Patient Care System Module.
Transfusion associated record (TAR) follows the principle of “Primum non nocere”, first, do no harm. TAR is a way to increase patient safety. TAR benefits MRHC’s Laboratory Services Department in the following ways:
1. Positive patient identification: scanning of the patient’s wristband at patient’s bedside with our MobiLab system which results in bar-coded specimens.
2. The bar-coded specimens are used for crossmatching thereby reducing the possibility of specimen “mix up”
3. Scanning of blood bank products and associating the products with the bar-coded patient specimen during crossmatching
4. Scanning the blood bank products at the time of issuing the products for transfusion
5. Scanning the patient’s wristband at the bedside and the blood products so that the right patient gets the right product.
6. All documentation about the patient’s transfusion is maintained indefinitely in the computer system
According to MRHC Laboratory Services Director, Bill Jones, PhD, “The patient is properly identified and all specimens and products are associated with the patient throughout the process from specimen collection until the transfusion process is complete, thereby creating a ‘closed loop’ process of patient safety. We are always striving to mistake-proof all of our processes to insure complete patient safety. TAR helps in meeting this goal.”
For more information on Magnolia Regional Health Center, please visit www.mrhc.org
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