Emerging technologies Medication administration is a vital part of clinical nursing practice, but in turn has great potential to produce medication errors (Athanasakis 2012 ). It has been reported that over 7,000 deaths related to medication errors occur each year in the United States (Flynn, Liang, Dickson, Xie, & Suh, 2012). A patient in the hospital may be exposed to at least one error per day that could have been avoided (Flynn, Liang, Dickson, Xie, & Suh, 2012). Working in a professional nursing practice environment, the primary goal is for the nurse and staff to put the patient first and provide the highest quality care with a significant impact on safety. There are several types of technology that can be used to improve the treatment process and will help staff achieve a higher level of care that involves patient safety. One tool that can and should be used to prevent medication errors is barcoding technology. The purpose of this document is to demonstrate how the implementation of technology can aid patient safety during the medication administration process. Definition of medication errorWhat is classified as a medication error? An error can occur at any time during the drug administration process. A medication error can be explained as “any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate use of the drug or harm to the patient while the drug is under the control of the health care professional, patient, or consumer” (National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention, 2014, paragraph 1). Rather it is at the time of prescribing, transcription, dispensing or at the time of administration all these areas are equally substantial in producing possible errors that could potentially harm the patient (Flynn, Liang...... middle of paper.... .. ide will validate the correct drug, dose, time course, and patient during the therapy process (Seibert, Maddox, Flynn, and Williams 2014 there may be some issues or problems associated with a learning curve solutions). system alternatives that staff can adopt that cause different or greater errors help reduce frequency by providing a safety net within the process The primary goal for the nurse when administering medications is for the patient to receive the medications corrected without adverse reactions and barcoding technology can help prevent errors during the process (Seibert, Maddox, Flynn). , &Williams 2014).