Enhancing Medication Safety: The 5 Rights, Clinical Judgment, and UbiSim’s Barcode Scanner

Improving medication safety begins with understanding the risks and the tools educators can use to minimize them. According to the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN, 2018), over 50% of nurses have been involved in errors, with 65% of those errors tied to poor clinical judgment. Alarmingly, over 50% of student nurse errors involve medications (Silvestre & Spector, 2023). 

These are sobering statistics, especially when you’re preparing future nurses to provide safe, effective patient care. So, how can educators best equip learners to enhance medication safety using both clinical judgment and technology like barcode scanning? 

One essential place to start is with the Rights of Medication Administration (Hanson & Haddad, 2023):

• Right patient
• Right medication
• Right dose
• Right route
• Right time

Several safety frameworks also include additional rights such as:

• Right reason
• Right documentation
• Right response

They’re foundational. These steps help nurse learners slow down, think critically, and build safe, consistent habits from the start. But every educator knows that the real world is more complex than a checklist. Clinical environments are busy, unpredictable, and full of opportunities for error, even when all the “rights” are technically met. 

That’s where clinical judgment comes in. 

Safe medication administration isn’t just about doing things “by the book.” It’s about knowing when something feels off, asking the right questions, having the confidence to speak up, and making informed decisions in real time. And like any skill, clinical judgment requires deliberate, repeated practice—and the right technology to support it. 

Barcode scanning has become an essential tool in this process, helping nurses verify the Rights of Medication Administration in real time while reinforcing critical thinking, reducing errors, and supporting safe, effective medication delivery.

How Barcode Scanning Supports Safer Medication Administration

To help mitigate risks, barcode scanning technology has become a powerful tool to support safe medication delivery. When used effectively, it helps nurses confirm:

• Right patient: Confirms identity via wristband scan and EHR match
• Right medication: Verifies medication selection against provider orders
• Right dose: Cross-checks dosage with the MAR (Medication Administration Record)
• Right route: Ensures administration method matches the prescription
• Right time: Alerts for early, late, or duplicate doses

Research confirms that nurses who consistently utilize barcode medication administration technology when available significantly reduce the incidence of  medication administration errors. Proper use of this technology is associated with a meaningful decrease in error rates, underscoring its role as a vital, safety-enhancing tool in clinical practice (Tiu, et.al., 2025).

Barcode scanning also supports documentation, reduces variability in workflows, and creates audit trails that enhance accountability. But most importantly, it serves as a safety net—not a substitute—for the nurse’s critical thinking and vigilance at the bedside.

UbiSim’s Barcode Scanner: Where Nursing Practice Gets Real

At UbiSim, we believe clinical judgment is best developed through immersive, realistic learning experiences. Our virtual reality (VR) simulation platform is designed by nurses, for nurses to bridge the gap between classroom theory and real-world clinical practice. UbiSim empowers learners to develop clinical judgment, confidence, and a heart for patient-centric care—all within a safe, scalable, and customizable environment.

Our latest release integrates barcode scanning technology directly into the VR scenarios. This means nurse learners can:

• Scan patients and medications just like in a real clinical setting
• Identify mismatches and respond using sound clinical judgment
• Apply the Rights of Medication Administration while navigating the complexity and pace of nursing practice

UbiSim is where practice meets real world nursing, giving learners the chance to develop essential skills until they are competent, confident, and ready for clinical care. Even in a simulated world, the stakes feel authentic—and that’s exactly the point.

Because at UbiSim, we’re shaping the next generation of nurses prepared to deliver safe, effective, and compassionate care from day one.

Medication Safety Isn’t a Solo Responsibility

Medication errors don’t happen in isolation, and neither does medication safety. As the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP, 2024) emphasizes, the Rights of Medication Administration aren’t just a nursing checklist; they reflect a system-wide responsibility requiring collaboration across healthcare teams. Every member of the care team, from pharmacy to prescribers to leadership, plays a role in making safe administration possible.

Nurses are uniquely positioned at the point of care, which means their judgment often serves as the final safeguard when something seems off. Nurses are not passive recipients of orders; they are educated professionals expected to assess, question, and clarify when medication prescriptions raise concerns about the dose, route, indication or the medication itself. This critical thinking is one of the clearest ways we advocate for our patients.

Yet we must recognize that nurses operate under difficult conditions: constant interruptions, high patient loads, and time pressures that make vigilance a challenge. Educators play a critical role in preparing learners to meet these demands with both skill and resilience.

Final Thoughts

It’s critical to remember that barcode scanning and adhering to the Rights of Medication Administration are just one layer of protection. These safeguards are essential, yes, but they’re not enough on their own. At the heart of true patient safety lies the clinical judgment of the nurse: the ability to assess accurately, interpret data wisely, and act decisively for the right reasons.

Nurses deserve the time, tools, and work environments that support this vigilance. Yet in the face of constant interruptions and systemic pressures, that level of judgment is often difficult to maintain. Even so, a nurse’s judgment—their voice— their clinical judgment – remains the most powerful safeguard at the bedside.

Let’s empower our learners and colleagues to view barcode scanning not as the endpoint of safety, but as one piece of a broader, judgment-driven practice of care.

Explore how UbiSim’s immersive VR simulations help nurse learners build the clinical judgment and medication safety skills they need—before they ever step into a patient’s room.

Sources

Hanson, A., & Haddad, L. M. (2023). Nursing rights of medication administration. In StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK560654/ 

Institute for Safe Medication Practices. (2024). ISMP targeted medication safety best practices for hospitals (2024–2025). Institute for Safe Medication Practices. Retrieved from https://online.ecri.org/hubfs/ISMP/Resources/ISMP_TargetedMedicationSafetyBestPractices_Hospitals.pdf 

National Council of State Boards of Nursing. (2018). Measuring the right things: NCSBN's next generation NCLEX(R) endeavors to go beyond the leading edge. In Focus.10-17. https://ncsbn.org/public-files/InFocus_Winter_2018.pdf  

Silvestre, J. H., & Spector, N. (2023). Nursing student errors and near misses: Three years of data. Journal of Nursing Education, 62(1), 12-19. https://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-20221109-05 

Tiu, M.G., Ballarta, P. J., De Leon, K. A., Isulat, T., Narvaez, R. A. & Salas, M. (2025). Impact on use of barcode scanners in medication administration: An integrative review. Canadian Journal of Nursing Informatics, 20(1). https://cjni.net/journal/?p=14288