Technical Overview
Bar Code Medication Administration (BCMA) is a clinical application developed by the Veterans Health administration (VHA). This application has been successfully deployed in the VHA hospital network since 1999. BCMA runs upon the same infrastructure as Resource and Patient Management System (RPMS) and Electronic Health Record (EHR). BCMA utilizes a Graphical User Interface (GUI) designed for point-of-service patient care with either mobile workstations-on-wheels using wireless connectivity or with bedside workstations. Indian Health Service and the Veterans Health Administration have an inter-agency agreement supporting IHS use of this application.
Software, Hardware and Network Requirements:
RPMS server software supporting BCMA was included in EHR version 1.1 patch 11. The GUI workstation software is a controlled release project and will be installed as it is deployed at individual hospitals. BCMA sites must have either mobile workstations-on-wheels with wireless connectivity or bedside workstations with either wired or wireless connectivity. Each BCMA workstation must have the BCMA GUI application and associated broker installed. Each workstation must also have a wired or wireless bar code scanner connected to it. BCMA workstations must meet the same hardware and security standard as RPMS EHR.
