[chuckpony]

Barcoding is not necessarily the solution. I used to work in a hospital with bar coding. This hospital recently had a death of a young girl because the nurse chose not to scan the medication per the hospital policy. Docs have horrible handwriting, yes, but as a rule, whenver I cannot read the writing, or the pharmacist is unsure, I always call the doc to clarify the order. And just because you have a barcode system , does not mean you can ignore the 5 Rights of med administration. That is a mistake people make. Check, check and check again, and even if you think it is right, check again!
It is not always about understaffing. Where I live and work all hospitals are well staffed and there is no real shortage of nurses. Nurses are overworked though and with all the new technology which is supposed to make things convenient and decrease error, it can be quite time consuming and take away from patient care. There are too many nurses pulling too many double shifts, mandatory overtime, etc.... I think it is dangerous when you have a nurse or doc who is too inexperienced or too confident. Either can be a set up for tragic mistakes. But, even the best of medical professionals, with the best of intentions can make a tragic mistake. I am not talking about the crooked, crazy people, they are a whole other breed.