Medication Technicians at Danby House Assisted Living and Memory Care in Winston-Salem and Meadowview Terrace of Wadesboro Assisted Living in Wadesboro will be donning bright red, satin sashes throughout the day as they disperse medication to their residents. The sashes are part of a company-wide initiative to help reduce medication errors, which will be rolled out in Affinity Living Group’s 120 communities in the coming months.

The sashes, to be worn by Med Techs during med pass, the times when medication is prepped and dispersed to residents at the community, have the words “Do Not Disturb” across the front in bold, white letters.

“The visual reminder of, ‘do not disturb’ will not only visually give a clue to the staff, residents and families that they are not to be disturbed on med pass, but also gives a sense of pride that, ‘When I don on this sash, I am to focus and take pride in the work that I’m doing,’ which is delivering the medications that are essential to the care of our residents,” said Lindsey Starnes, vice president of provider engagement and innovation for ALG.

The initiative was first rolled out at Mitchell House in Spruce Pine, as a pilot for the program, termed Red Means Med. Due to its success, the Red Means Med program is growing, and rolling out to two more ALG communities this month – Danby House and Meadowview Terrace of Wadesboro. Ultimately, Starnes said, she plans to have the sashes in place across all ALG communities in June.

“Research has shown that Med Techs are typically a target of interruption as they’re delivering the medicines, which then causes medication error increases,” Starnes said. “Studies have shown that these sashes reduce those errors by about 50 percent in six months, and those rates are sustainable long term.”

A Med Pass, conducted at multiple times throughout the day, involves several steps essential to the residents’ care.

“The goal is to allow the Med Techs the ability to  wash their hands, get the proper medication, turn down the TV or radio in the resident’s room, turn up the lights, double-check the residents condition or change in condition, discuss the medications with the patient, administer the medication, document the delivery, and wash their hands again before taking off the sash,” Starnes explained. “We don’t want this process to be interrupted.”

Educational posters have been placed throughout ALG’s Red Means Med communities, explaining the initiative, and residents and families are being informed of the meaning behind the new sashes.

“I do think it will be a big help,” said Lori Greer, a Med Tech at Mitchell House who was the first to test out the red sash. “I think we needed something like this to cut down on distractions and be able to focus on the medications.”