Characterising the complexity of medication safety using a human factors approach: an observational study in two intensive care units

An automated medication system reduces errors in the medication administration process: results from a Danish hospital study

Objectives

Improvements in a hospital's medication administration process might reduce the prevalence of medication errors and improve patient safety. The objective of this study was to evaluate the success of an automated medication system in reducing medication administration errors.

Methods

A controlled before-and-after study with follow-up after 4 months was conducted in two Danish haematological hospital wards. The occurrence of administration errors was observed in two 3-week periods. The error rate was calculated by dividing the number of doses with one or more errors by the number of doses (opportunities for errors). Logistic regression was used to assess changes in error rates after implementation of the automated medication system with time, group, and interaction between time and group as independent variables. The estimated parameter for the interaction term was interpreted as the incremental change ('difference-in-difference') caused by the new dispensing system.

Results

A total of 697 doses with one or more errors were identified out of 2245 doses. The error rate decreased from 0.35 at baseline to 0.17 at follow-up in the intervention ward and from 0.37 to 0.35 in the control ward. The overall risk of errors was reduced by 57% in the intervention ward compared with the control ward (OR 0.43; 95% CI 0.30 to 0.63).

Conclusions

The automated medication system reduced the error rate of the medication administration process and thus improved patient safety in the medication process.

Medication communication during handover interactions in specialty practice settings

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

To investigate what and how medication information is communicated during handover interactions in specialty hospital settings.

BACKGROUND

Effective communication about patients' medications between health professionals and nurses at handover is vital for the delivery of safe continuity of care.

DESIGN

An exploratory qualitative design and observational study.

METHODS

Participant observation was undertaken at a metropolitan Australian public hospital in four specialty settings: cardiothoracic care, intensive care, emergency care and oncology care. A medication communication model was applied to the data and thematic analysis was performed.

RESULTS

Over 130 hours of observational data were collected. In total, 185 (predominately nursing) handovers were observed across the four specialty settings involving 37 nurse participants. Health professionals communicated partial details of patients' medication regimens, by focusing on auditing the medication administration record, and through the handover approach employed. Gaps in medication information at handover were evident as shown by lack of communication about detailed and specific medication content. Incoming nurses rarely posed questions about medications at handover.

CONCLUSIONS

Handover interactions contained restricted and incomplete medication information. Improving the transparency, completeness and accuracy of medication communication is vital for optimising patient safety and quality of care in specialty practice settings.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

For nurses to make informed and rapid decisions regarding appropriate patient care, information about all types of prescribed medications is essential, which is communicated in an explicit and clear way. Jargon and assumptions related to medication details should be minimised to reduce the risk of misunderstandings. Disclosure of structured medication information supports nurses to perform accurate patient assessments, make knowledgeable decisions about the appropriateness of medications and their doses, and anticipate possible adverse events associated with medications. In addition, benefits of patient and family member contributions in communicating about medications at handover should also be considered.

Medication Assistant-Certification Program in Washington State: Barriers to implementation

Medication assistants (MAs) are a legal alternative that enables licensed nurses to safely delegate medication administration to stable residents in non-acute settings. The purpose of this study was to query the beliefs and understanding of skilled nursing facility staff regarding the Washington State Medication Assistant Endorsement Program (MAEP). A 15-item survey was developed and administered to a convenience sample of 218 nursing staff from five eastern Washington nursing homes. Most believed that MAs would not change the cost of care, nor would they enhance or reduce the quality of care provided to residents in skilled nursing facilities. The relatively few Licensed Practical Nurses surveyed (n = 19) were the least in favor of MAs, possibly fearing job loss with the addition of MAs to the staffing mix at their facilities. These factors in combination may reflect why MAEP has not yet been embraced by providers in Washington State.

Understanding the causes of intravenous medication administration errors in hospitals: a qualitative critical incident study

OBJECTIVES

To investigate the underlying causes of intravenous medication administration errors (MAEs) in National Health Service (NHS) hospitals.

SETTING

Two NHS teaching hospitals in the North West of England.

PARTICIPANTS

Twenty nurses working in a range of inpatient clinical environments were identified and recruited using purposive sampling at each study site.

PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURES

Semistructured interviews were conducted with nurse participants using the critical incident technique, where they were asked to discuss perceived causes of intravenous MAEs that they had been directly involved with. Transcribed interviews were analysed using the Framework approach and emerging themes were categorised according to Reason's model of accident causation.

RESULTS

In total, 21 intravenous MAEs were discussed containing 23 individual active failures which included slips and lapses (n=11), mistakes (n=8) and deliberate violations of policy (n=4). Each active failure was associated with a range of error and violation provoking conditions. The working environment was implicated when nurses lacked healthcare team support and/or were exposed to a perceived increased workload during ward rounds, shift changes or emergencies. Nurses frequently reported that the quality of intravenous dose-checking activities was compromised due to high perceived workload and working relationships. Nurses described using approaches such as subconscious functioning and prioritising to manage their duties, which at times contributed to errors.

CONCLUSIONS

Complex interactions between active and latent failures can lead to intravenous MAEs in hospitals. Future interventions may need to be multimodal in design in order to mitigate these risks and reduce the burden of intravenous MAEs.

Multicentre study to develop a medication safety package for decreasing inpatient harm from omission of time-critical medications

QUALITY ISSUE

Omitting time-critical medications leads to delays in treatment and may result in patient harm.

INITIAL ASSESSMENT

Published studies show that omission of prescribed medication doses is common. Although most are inconsequential, up to 86% of omitted medications place patients at some risk of harm.

SOLUTION

Funding was obtained to develop a medication safety package to facilitate decreasing omitted dose incidents by audit, education and feedback.

IMPLEMENTATION

A panel of nursing and pharmacy hospital staff in Victoria, Australia, reviewed existing audit tools and published studies to develop a critical medication list and audit tool. The tool, definitions and instructions were tested in 11 rural, urban and teaching hospitals. Qualitative feedback was sought to refine the tool using a Plan-Do-Study-Act model. An educational presentation was developed using reported incidents.

EVALUATION

Staff in 11 hospitals tested the audit tool in 321 patients receiving 17 361 doses of medication. Feedback indicated audit data were useful for informing improvements in practice and for accreditation. The educational material consists of the User Guide, plus a presentation for nursing staff illustrated by six cases with questions, with instructions on how to decrease harm from omitted doses by ensuring correct documentation and prioritising time-critical medications.

LESSONS LEARNED

A medication safety package using standard definitions and a critical medication list was successfully tested. It is now used by nursing and pharmacy staff across the state. Several interstate hospitals are using the tools as part of their hospital medication safety programmes.

Impact of interventions designed to reduce medication administration errors in hospitals: a systematic review

BACKGROUND

There is a need to identify effective interventions to minimize the threat posed by medication administration errors (MAEs).

OBJECTIVE

Our objective was to review and critically appraise interventions designed to reduce MAEs in the hospital setting.

DATA SOURCES

Ten electronic databases were searched between 1985 and November 2013.

METHODS

Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and controlled trials (CTs) reporting rates of MAEs or related adverse drug events between an intervention group and a comparator group were included. Data from each study were independently extracted and assessed for potential risk of bias by two authors. Risk ratios (RRs, with 95 % confidence intervals [CIs]) were used to examine the effect of an intervention.

RESULTS

Six RCTs and seven CTs were included. Types of interventions clustered around four main themes: medication use technology (n = 4); nurse education and training (n = 3); changing practice in anesthesia (n = 2); and ward system changes (n = 4). Reductions in MAE rates were reported by five studies; these included automated drug dispensing (RR 0.72, 95 % CI 0.53-1.00), computerized physician order entry (RR 0.51, 95 % 0.40-0.66), barcode-assisted medication administration with electronic administration records (RR 0.71, 95 % CI 0.53-0.95), nursing education/training using simulation (RR 0.17, 95 % CI 0.08-0.38), and clinical pharmacist-led training (RR 0.76, 95 % CI 0.67-0.87). Increased or equivocal outcome rates were found for the remaining studies. Weaknesses in the internal or external validity were apparent for most included studies.

LIMITATIONS

Theses and conference proceedings were excluded and data produced outside commercial publishing were not searched.

CONCLUSIONS

There is emerging evidence of the impact of specific interventions to reduce MAEs in hospitals, which warrant further investigation using rigorous and standardized study designs. Theory-driven efforts to understand the underlying causes of MAEs may lead to more effective interventions in the future.

A multicenter study of the point prevalence of drug-induced hypotension in the ICU

OBJECTIVE

To determine the point prevalence of drug-induced hypotension episodes in critically ill patients, to assess the episodes resulting from error, and to describe how episodes are treated.

DESIGN

Multicenter observational, 24-hour snapshot study.

SETTING

Forty-seven ICUs in 27 institutions located in the United States, Canada, and Singapore.

PATIENTS

A total of 688 ICU patients were evaluated.

INTERVENTIONS

None.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

Patients were included in the study if they had an episode of hypotension in the 24 hours prior to the clinical pharmacists' evaluation. The definition for a hypotensive episode is either a systolic blood pressure less than 90 mm Hg or a decrease in systolic blood pressure of 30 mm Hg over a 2-hour period. Each episode of unintentional hypotension was assessed for suspected drug-related causes. When a drug-related cause was suspected, an objective assessment tool, the modified Kramer, was used to determine causality. A score of at least "possible" was considered drug induced, referred to as a "drug-related hazardous condition." A drug-related hazardous condition is the temporal gap (intermediate stage) between the identification of an adverse drug reaction and the subsequent onset of drug-induced injury, known as an "adverse drug event." Drug-induced episodes were evaluated for medication errors and treatment. One hundred fifty-eight patients experienced 204 hypotensive episodes that were considered unintentional and drug related. Common drugs implicated included propofol, fentanyl, metoprolol, lorazepam, hydralazine, and furosemide. A total of 54 episodes (26.5%) resulted from medication errors. Common error types were improper dose/quantity (46%) and prescribing (25%). A total of 56.9% episodes were treated.

CONCLUSIONS

Many hypotensive episodes in the ICU are drug related and require treatment. A substantial portion of these episodes result from errors and are therefore preventable. This presents opportunities to improve prescribing including optimizing drug dosing to avoid possible patient harm from drug-induced hypotension.

How do community pharmacies recover from e-prescription errors?

BACKGROUND

The use of e-prescribing is increasing annually, with over 788 million e-prescriptions received in US pharmacies in 2012. Approximately 9% of e-prescriptions have medication errors.

OBJECTIVE

To describe the process used by community pharmacy staff to detect, explain, and correct e-prescription errors.

METHODS

The error recovery conceptual framework was employed for data collection and analysis. 13 pharmacists and 14 technicians from five community pharmacies in Wisconsin participated in the study. A combination of data collection methods were utilized, including direct observations, interviews, and focus groups. The transcription and content analysis of recordings were guided by the three-step error recovery model.

RESULTS

Most of the e-prescription errors were detected during the entering of information into the pharmacy system. These errors were detected by both pharmacists and technicians using a variety of strategies which included: (1) performing double checks of e-prescription information; (2) printing the e-prescription to paper and confirming the information on the computer screen with information from the paper printout; and (3) using colored pens to highlight important information. Strategies used for explaining errors included: (1) careful review of patient's medication history; (2) pharmacist consultation with patients; (3) consultation with another pharmacy team member; and (4) use of online resources. In order to correct e-prescription errors, participants made educated guesses of the prescriber's intent or contacted the prescriber via telephone or fax. When e-prescription errors were encountered in the community pharmacies, the primary goal of participants was to get the order right for patients by verifying the prescriber's intent.

CONCLUSION

Pharmacists and technicians play an important role in preventing e-prescription errors through the detection of errors and the verification of prescribers' intent. Future studies are needed to examine factors that facilitate or hinder recovery from e-prescription errors.

Implementation of pharmacists' interventions and assessment of medication errors in an intensive care unit of a Chinese tertiary hospital

Background

Pharmacist interventions and medication errors potentially differ between the People’s Republic of China and other countries. This study aimed to report interventions administered by clinical pharmacists and analyze medication errors in an intensive care unit (ICU) in a tertiary hospital in People’s Republic of China.

Method

A prospective, noncomparative, 6-month observational study was conducted in a general ICU of a tertiary hospital in the People’s Republic of China. Clinical pharmacists performed interventions to prevent or resolve medication errors during daily rounds and documented all of these interventions and medication errors. Such interventions and medication errors were categorized and then analyzed.

Results

During the 6-month observation period, a total of 489 pharmacist interventions were reported. Approximately 407 (83.2%) pharmacist interventions were accepted by ICU physicians. The incidence rate of medication errors was 124.7 per 1,000 patient-days. Improper drug frequency or dosing (n=152, 37.3%), drug omission (n=83, 20.4%), and potential or actual occurrence of adverse drug reaction (n=54, 13.3%) were the three most commonly committed medication errors. Approximately 339 (83.4%) medication errors did not pose any risks to the patients. Antimicrobials (n=171, 35.0%) were the most frequent type of medication associated with errors.

Conclusion

Medication errors during prescription frequently occurred in an ICU of a tertiary hospital in the People’s Republic of China. Pharmacist interventions were also efficient in preventing medication errors.

Prevalence, nature and predictors of prescribing errors in mental health hospitals: a prospective multicentre study

OBJECTIVE

To determine the prevalence, nature and predictors of prescribing errors (PEs) in three mental health hospitals.

SETTING

Inpatient units in three National Health Service (NHS) mental health hospitals in the North West of England.

PARTICIPANTS

Trained clinical pharmacists prospectively recorded the number of PEs in newly written or omitted prescription items screened during their routine work on 10 data collection days. A multidisciplinary panel reviewed PE data using established methods to confirm (1) the presence of a PE, (2) the type of PE and (3) whether errors were clinically relevant and likely to cause harm.

PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURES

Frequency, nature and predictors of PEs.

RESULTS

Of 4427 screened prescription items, 281 were found to have one or more PEs (error rate 6.3% (95% CI 5.6 to 7.1%)). Multivariate analysis revealed that specialty trainees (OR 1.23 (1.01 to 1.51)) and staff grade psychiatrists (OR 1.50 (1.05 to 2.13)) were more likely to make PEs when compared to foundation year (FY) one doctors, and that specialty trainees and consultant psychiatrists were twice as likely to make clinically relevant PEs (OR 2.61 (2.11 to 3.22) and 2.03 (1.66 to 2.50), respectively) compared to FY one staff. Prescription items screened during the prescription chart rewrite (OR 0.52 (0.33 to 0.82)) or at discharge (OR 0.87 (0.79 to 0.97)) were less likely to be associated with PEs than items assessed during inpatient stay, although they were more likely to be associated with clinically relevant PEs (OR 2.27 (1.72 to 2.99) and 4.23 (3.68 to 4.87), respectively). Prescription items screened at hospital admission were five times more likely (OR 5.39 (2.72 to 10.69)) to be associated with clinically relevant errors than those screened during patient stay.

CONCLUSIONS

PEs may be more common in mental health hospitals than previously reported and important targets to minimise these errors have been identified.