The Critical Nature of Early Nursing Involvement for Introducing New Technologies

This article emphasizes the crucial role of early nursing involvement whenever a new technology, such as a Bar Code Medication Administration (BCMA) system, is introduced in a patient care setting. The authors of this article describe how nurses participated on interdisciplinary teams during the design, planning, implementation, and evaluation phases of BCMA point-of-care technology at their facility. They illustrate the benefits of early nursing involvement in all phases of introducing BCMA technology, and the problems that can arise in the absence of this early nursing involvement, using real-life examples of lessons learned during the initial implementation and further expansion of the BCMA system at their facility.