Patients’ Bedsides or Drug Trolleys: Where to Keep Paper Medication Administration Records?

Abstract

A point estimate study was conducted at a general teaching hospital in Britain that measured the availability of patients' paper medication administration records (also known as MARs or drug charts) in five surgical and two medical units. The five surgical units kept MARs at patients' bedsides, whereas each of the two medical units kept all MARs at two designated drug trolleys. MARs were readily available 76% (84 of 111 patients) of the time in the surgical units, compared to 94% (45 of 48 patients) of the time in the medical units. The difference in availability was statistically significant (p<0.01). The results suggested that hospitals should keep paper MARs at a designated area rather than patients' bedsides. This setup would reduce the time needed to locate MARs, and hence make the work of doctors, nurses, and pharmacists more efficient.