Administering medicines to patients is one of the primary responsibilities of a care worker and, thus, it is necessary that when this task is performed it is done with utmost care. To manage the medicine administration, several care homes use printable MAR (Medicine Administration Record) sheets. Though several care homes in the UK have started using Electronic MAR (eMAR), there are still many who are even now using the printable MARs. Care homes usually get printed MAR charts from pharmacies which supply them the medicines. Care homes often pay extra for this service. Though printed mars are a tad better than handwritten charts as they can avoid clerical errors and errors due to handwriting, they are not completely free of errors. Here are some of the problems that are associated with printed MARs that can be avoided by switching to eMAR:
- Tracking dosage changes manually: While a doctor may have prescribed a particular medicine, he or she may change the dosage at some point. When such a thing happens, the caretakers have to update the MAR chart and track it manually. But with eMAR, the care workers don’t have to worry about the hassles of manually updating the dosage changes prescribed by the doctors -as the app automatically sends alerts whenever the dose is changed and whenever it is due.
- Tracking prescription cycle changes manually: Often doctors change the prescription in the middle of the month. Therefore, there can be too many MAR charts in one file for one resident. The caretakers have to be extra cautious in such a scenario and keep a track of prescriptions. However, with eMAR, this problem is easily solved. The care workers get alerts regarding the changes in prescription which helps in reducing medication errors.
- Overwriting: When a resident’s medication is altered, care home staff are responsible for amending the MAR sheet. It has to be ensured that directions are written in legible handwriting and care homes need to have a system in place to check the source and accuracy of the change. Moreover, the codes used in the MAR sheet must be clearly explained. All the personal details must be completed in every MAR sheet. Caregivers can avoid the hassle of filling in printable MARS altogether with eMAR. Also, with eMAR caregivers don’t face problems of illegible handwriting or overwriting.
Care home owners and managers – Use eMAR in your care home to streamline medication administration
All of these above-mentioned problems can be avoided by care homes by switching to eMAR. Instead of a printable sheet, caregivers can access the cloud-based MAR sheets on an Android tablet or a smartphone. There’s no fear of the data getting misplaced. Moreover, as it resembles the printable sheets it is easy for caregivers to get a hang of it. eMAR is a cost-effective solution to improving medication administration in your care home. Book an eMAR demo today and find out how your care home can benefit from it.