Emerging technologyMedication administration is an essential part of clinical nursing practice, but it in turn has great potential for producing nursing errors medication (Athanasakis 2012). It has been reported that more than 7,000 deaths occur each year due to medication errors in the United States (Flynn, Liang, Dickson, Xie, & Suh, 2012). A hospitalized patient 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 setting, the primary goal is for the nurse and staff to put the patient first and provide the highest quality care with safety in mind. There are several types of technologies that can be used to improve the medication process and will help staff achieve a higher level of care involving patient safety. Barcode technology is a tool that can and should be used to prevent medication errors. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how the implementation of technology can contribute to patient safety during the medication administration process. Defining a medication error What constitutes a medication error? An error can occur at any time during the medication administration process. A medication error can be explained as “any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate use of a medication or harm to the patient while the medication is under the control of the healthcare professional, patient or consumer » (National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention). , 2014, paragraph 1). It is rather at the level of prescription, transcription, dispensing or at the time of administration that all these areas are equally important in producing possible errors which could potentially harm the patient (Flynn, Liang... ... middle of paper...... ide will validate the correct drug, dose, time course and patient during the medication process (Seibert, Maddox, Flynn and Williams 2014). There may be some issues associated with a learning curve. System workarounds that staff can apply that result in a difference or increase in errors may occur. Also create problems. Medication errors are still likely to occur during the treatment process, although barcode technology can help reduce the frequency by providing a safety net within the process. The nurse's primary goal when administering medications is for the patient to receive the correct medications without adverse effects and barcode technology can help prevent errors during the process (Seibert, Maddox, Flynn). , and Williams 2014).