Bar-Code Technology that Reduces Medication Errors, Misleading Tobacco Ads Named Best/Worst Prevention Ideas of the Week

The use of bar-code verification technology to decrease medication errors in hospitals was named the “Best Prevention Idea of the Week,” while misleading tobacco ads aimed at South Asian women was named the “Worst Prevention Idea of the Week."

The “Best/Worst” awards are announced each week in “Prevention Matters,” the blog of Partnership for Prevention. Nominees are submitted by Partnership staff as well as the general public, and are voted on by the staff. Partnership for Prevention is a nonpartisan organization of business, nonprofit and government leaders who are working to make evidence-based disease prevention and health promotion a national priority. More information is available at http://www.prevent.org/.

BEST

Bar-Code Technology Reduces Medication Errors in Hospitals

Use of bar-code verification technology can substantially decrease both transcription errors and medication administration errors in hospitals, according to research published in the May 6 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. "Taken together, our findings show that the bar-code eMAR technology improves medication safety by reducing administration and transcription errors, providing support for the inclusion of this technology as a 2013 criterion for achieving meaningful use under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Given challenges in implementing this technology, however, further research should focus on identifying factors that will lead to its optimal implementation," the authors write.

WORST

Tobacco firms take aim at Bangladeshi, Asian women

Bangladeshi chest doctor Kazi Saifuddin Bennoor has seen many misleading cigarette advertisements, but the one that suggested smoking could make childbirth easier plumbed new depths. Advertisements telling smokers they are smarter, more energetic and better lovers than their non-smoking counterparts are a familiar sight across Bangladesh — something unimaginable in most other countries. The promotion is being linked to an alarming rise in tobacco use in the impoverished South Asian country, particularly among women and the young — a trend repeated across many developing countries, anti-tobacco groups say.