Medication Safety

At Portsmouth Regional Hospital, your health and safety are our #1 priority. That's why we use the latest technology and ongoing patient education to help prevent and reduce medication errors. Please use the information on this Web page to enhance your safety.

Medication bar-coding
Medication safety guide & wallet record
Patients play a vital role
PRH honored for excellence

Medication Bar Coding

Portsmouth Regional Hospital has been nationally recognized for our medication safety program. We arethe first hospital in the Seacoast and one of the first in the nation to institute an electronic bar-coding system to help ensure patient safety. photo of female doctor using emar system

Our system is called "e-MAR" for Electronic Medication Administration Record. It acts as another stringent safeguard to ensure that the "Five Rights" of medication administration are met: the Right patient, the Right medication, the Right dose, the Right route of administration and the Right time.

Here's how it works:

  1. When a patient is admitted to Portsmouth Regional Hospital, he or she receives a special bar-coded armband. The bar code corresponds to a computerized record of the patient's current medication history, including allergies and side effects.
  2. When the pharmacy fills the patient's prescription, each dose of medication is given a bar code unique to that patient
  3. At the bedside, the nurse or therapist scans each dose of medication as well as the patient's bar coded armband.
  4. If any one of a number of qualifying factors do not match, several screen warnings appear to alert the nurse to double check, verify or call the doctor - before administering the medication.
  5. Physicians and pharmacists can access the computerized record later to confirm medication delivery.

Here's how you benefit:

  1. The bar-coding system helps prevent potentially dangerous medication mistakes
  2. e-MAR provides valuable, real time information for your doctor and caregivers
  3. Nurses have more time to focus on patient care instead of paperwork

Patients Play a Vital Role

We strongly encourage you as a patient to work with us to ensure your safety. All of the medications you receive while an inpatient at Portsmouth Regional Hospital are prescribed by your doctor, dispensed by the hospital pharmacy, and administered by your nurse so that dangerous drug interactions do not occur. To ensure your safety, you may not administer your own medications and we ask that you not bring medications from home. If you do bring any medications with you, please check them with your nurse or have a family member take them home. In the event that your physician has granted an xception to this policy, please inform your nurse about your medication.

Please read our Speak Upguidelines for more information about what you can do to ensure your healthcare safety.

Medication Safety Guide & Wallet Card

Know Your Medications:

Portsmouth Regional Hospital's Medication Safety Initiative recognizes the importance of knowing ALL medications that a patient is taking. This is vital information for physicians and other health care practitioners involved with your care!

  1. Keep an accurate record of all prescription medications you take, including dosage and reason for taking the drug
  2. List all vitamins, over-the-counter medications and herbal supplements you take
  3. List any drug allergy and detailed information about previous reactions to medications
  4. Keep this record with you at all times. Make sure your physician reviews it and updates it with each office visit. This is particularly important if more than one physician is involved with your healthcare.
  5. When you leave the hospital, make sure you receive an updated list of all the medications you are to continue to take. Do not assume that you will continue to take medications you were on before your hospital stay, so be sure to clarify this before leaving the hospital

Medication safety information isavailable at the Portsmouth Regional Hospital Entrances. You can also download the Wallet Cardand the Home Medication Guide.

PRH Honored for Excellence

Portsmouth Regional Hospital was recently honored for our success by the Institute for Safe Medication Practice (ISMP), a nonprofit organization that is well known throughout the nation and around the world as an educational resource for the prevention of medication-system errors.

The hospital has received the Institute's Cheers Award, which honors individuals, organizations and companies that have set a superlative standard of excellence in education designed to improve safety in medication administration.

Assuring medication safety is an ongoing process that involves every member of the hospital team. We continually review our performance and implement new strategies for avoiding potential errors.