Application of Computer Simulation Modeling to Medication Administration Process Redesign

The medication administration process (MAP) is one of the most high-risk processes in health care. MAP workflow redesign can precipitate both unanticipated and unintended consequences that can lead to new medication safety risks and workflow inefficiencies. Thus, it is necessary to have a tool to ev...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Nathan Huynh, Rita Snyder, Jose M. Vidal, Abbas S. Tavakoli, Bo Cai
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Hindawi Limited 2012-01-01
Series:Journal of Healthcare Engineering
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1260/2040-2295.3.4.649
Description
Summary:The medication administration process (MAP) is one of the most high-risk processes in health care. MAP workflow redesign can precipitate both unanticipated and unintended consequences that can lead to new medication safety risks and workflow inefficiencies. Thus, it is necessary to have a tool to evaluate the impact of redesign approaches in advance of their clinical implementation. This paper discusses the development of an agent-based MAP computer simulation model that can be used to assess the impact of MAP workflow redesign on MAP performance. The agent-based approach is adopted in order to capture Registered Nurse medication administration performance. The process of designing, developing, validating, and testing such a model is explained. Work is underway to collect MAP data in a hospital setting to provide more complex MAP observations to extend development of the model to better represent the complexity of MAP.
ISSN:2040-2295