Electronic medication administration system (eMAR)

What are electronic medication administration (eMAR) systems?

An eMAR system is a digital alternative to traditional paper-based MAR charts that provide safer and more accurate solutions to care home medication management. 

eMAR systems make it easy for care homes to keep residents’ medical records accurate and it makes it easy to ensure that they are up to date and reflect the real-time changes that often need to be made to the medication of care home residents. It does this by allowing providers to digitally manage, amend, track and report on current and changing medication needs of residents and allows providers to keep a record of any changes made. 

Why are eMARs so important in social care?

An eMAR system such as ATLAS eMAR by Person Centred Software, which is also part of PCS’s Connected Care Platform, offers everything that care homes need to achieve outstanding results with residents, families and inspectors: safety, accountability and efficiency. 

The easy-to-use technology available with an eMAR system not only helps care providers to achieve greater outcomes for resident safety through improved medication accuracy and efficiency, but also helps to ensure greater transparency and reporting that can be used for CQC inspections. 

Another reason as to why utilising an eMAR system is so important is the time it gives back to care staff. Because many of the tasks that would take up valuable time for care staff can now be done almost instantly – for example the booking in of medication – care staff can make greater use of their time and ensure they are spending more quality time with residents. 

However, when considering utilising an eMAR system for care homes, it’s important to remember which type would be best for your care setting. The unique features of Person Centred Software’s ATLAS eMAR system set it apart from other systems, below are some benefits that explain how:

What are the benefits of an eMAR system like Person Centred Software’s? 

Efficiency

With features such as Barcode Scanning, medications are able to be booked in quickly and efficiently and shows which medications need to be administered. This saves care staff huge amounts of time that would otherwise have been lost booking in medications manually. Overall, this and other features make for a far superior product when it comes to efficiency.

Accuracy

Our eMAR system is designed to ensure that the right resident gets the right dose at the right time, and thanks to the automatic safety checks, the likelihood of administering an incorrect dose or incorrect medication to a resident is virtually eliminated, meaning far greater medication accuracy. 

Pharmacy integration

Paper MAR chart systems means that miscommunication is almost bound to happen; not only miscommunication, but the time needed to go back and forth between care homes and GPs to ensure accurate medication means days at a time can be spent chasing down information. ATLAS eMAR makes that a thing of the past, however, thanks to its seamless ATLAS Pharmacy integration.

Stock control

Ensuring that medications don’t run out, or that budget isn’t wasted on overstocking of medications has always been a challenge for care homes. But with ATLAS eMAR, real-time status of resident’s current medication needs is available to view and review among other features that make for improved stock control.

Data privacy

Given that data breaches could lead to a 4% fine of the overall turnover of the company, it is imperative that the eMAR system care homes use have outstanding information security infrastructure and can successfully mitigate data breaches. Data protection is a high priority for our eMAR system, as evidenced by achieving an international standard in Information Security called ISO 27001.

Evidencing for the CQC

Investing in ATLAS eMAR means that you will always be ready for CQC inspections because of the ways in which it helps to evidence the 5 Standards ahead of audits. Whether it’s the ability to update medical records in real-time, manage resident’s medicines safely and efficiently, prevent medication errors with barcode scanning or a number of other features, you can achieve an ‘outstanding’ rating with the help of our eMAR system.