Tong EY, Hua PU, Edwards G, Van Dyk E, Yip G, Mitra B, Dooley MJ. Partnered pharmacist medication charting (PPMC) in regional and rural general medical patients.
Aust J Rural Health 2022;
30:593-600. [PMID:
35802809 DOI:
10.1111/ajr.12895]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2021] [Revised: 04/19/2022] [Accepted: 05/16/2022] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE
Errors in hospital medication charts are commonly encountered and have been associated with morbidity and mortality. This study evaluates the impact of the Partnered Pharmacist Medication Charting (PPMC) model on medication errors in general medical patients admitted to rural and regional hospitals.
DESIGN/METHOD
A prospective cohort study, comparing before and after the introduction of PPMC was conducted in 13 rural and regional health services. This included a 1-month pre-intervention phase and 3-month intervention phase. In the intervention phase, PPMC was implemented as a new model of care in general medical units.
SETTING
Victoria, Australia.
PARTICIPANTS
Patients admitted to General Medical Units.
OUTCOME MEASURE
The proportion of medication charts with at least one error was the primary outcome measure. Secondary outcome measures included inpatient length of stay (LOS), risk stratification of medication errors, Medical Emergency Team (MET) calls, transfers to ICU and hospital readmission.
RESULTS
Of the 669 patients who received standard medical charting during the pre-intervention period, 446 (66.7%) had at least one medication error identified compared to 64 patients (9.5%) using PPMC model (p < 0.001). There were 1361 medication charting errors identified during pre-intervention and 80 in the post-intervention. The median (interquartile range) inpatient length of stay was 4.8 (2.7-10.8) in the pre-intervention and 3.7 days (2.0-7.0) among patients that received PPMC (p < 0.001).
CONCLUSION
The PPMC model was successfully scaled across rural and regional Victoria as a medication safety strategy. The model was associated with significantly lower rates of medication errors, lower severity of errors and shorter inpatient length of stay.
Collapse