Improving drug use: a case study of events which led to changes in use of flucloxacillin in Australia

How Effective Are Incident-Reporting Systems for Improving Patient Safety? A Systematic Literature Review

CONTEXT

Incident-reporting systems (IRSs) are used to gather information about patient safety incidents. Despite the financial burden they imply, however,little is known about their effectiveness. This article systematically reviews the effectiveness of IRSs as a method of improving patient safety through organizational learning.

METHODS

Our systematic literature review identified 2 groups of studies: (1)those comparing the effectiveness of IRSs with other methods of error reporting and (2) those examining the effectiveness of IRSs on settings, structures, and outcomes in regard to improving patient safety. We used thematic analysis to compare the effectiveness of IRSs with other methods and to synthesize what was effective, where, and why. Then, to assess the evidence concerning the ability of IRSs to facilitate organizational learning, we analyzed studies using the concepts of single-loop and double-loop learning.

FINDINGS

In total, we identified 43 studies, 8 that compared IRSs with other methods and 35 that explored the effectiveness of IRSs on settings, structures,and outcomes. We did not find strong evidence that IRSs performed better than other methods. We did find some evidence of single-loop learning, that is, changes to clinical settings or processes as a consequence of learning from IRSs, but little evidence of either improvements in outcomes or changes in the latent managerial factors involved in error production. In addition, there was insubstantial evidence of IRSs enabling double-loop learning, that is, a cultural change or a change in mind-set.

CONCLUSIONS

The results indicate that IRSs could be more effective if the criteria for what counts as an incident were explicit, they were owned and ledby clinical teams rather than centralized hospital departments, and they were embedded within organizations as part of wider safety programs.

Formulary status of drugs in Ontario after Health Canada has issued a serious safety warning: a cohort study

BACKGROUND

Drugs are approved for formulary listing based on limited knowledge of their safety. Serious safety issues are often identified after a drug is marketed.

OBJECTIVE

To determine whether the listing status of drugs on the Ontario Drug Benefit (ODB) Formulary changes following the identification of safety concerns by Health Canada and whether the results of reviews by people responsible for the ODB Formulary are made public.

METHODS

All new active substances (NAS) approved by Health Canada from January 1, 2002 to March 31, 2012 that subsequently had a warning issued about a serious safety concern were identified. Editions of the ODB Formulary were searched to find which of these drugs were listed on the Formulary before the safety warning was issued.

RESULTS

A total of 263 NAS were approved of which 42 subsequently acquired one or more serious safety warnings and 15 of these were listed on the ODB Formulary before the safety warning was issued. The listing status of 14 of the 15 drugs was unchanged after the release of the safety warning. No information is available about whether the listing status of these 14 drugs was reassessed.

CONCLUSIONS

The ODB Formulary should develop a set of criteria to determine whether the listing status of drugs should be reviewed after Health Canada issues a serious safety warning. The results of any reconsiderations should made public so that prescribers and patients alike know that the ODB Formulary officials still regard the drugs as having a positive benefit to harm ratio.

The use of antipsychotic and anticholinergic antiparkinson drugs in Norway after the withdrawal of orphenadrine

AIMS

Extrapyramidal side-effects induced by antipsychotic drugs are treated with dose reduction or substitution with another antipsychotic drug or by the addition of anticholinergic antiparkinson agents. The withdrawal of orphenadrine from the Norwegian market provided a possibility to investigate to what degree these alternative measures were taken in clinical practice.

METHODS

Data were drawn from the Norwegian Prescription Database on the sales of antipsychotics and one of the two anticholinergic antiparkinson agents marketed in 2004, orphenadrine and biperiden, to a total of 39 758 outpatients. The patients were reinvestigated in 2007. The consequences of the withdrawal of orphenadrine from the Norwegian market in 2005 regarding dosing, switching and cessation of antipsychotics and use of anticholinergics were assessed for orphenadrine users compared with biperiden users.

RESULTS

Of the patients originally using orphenadrine, 28.4% stopped using the drug without reducing the antipsychotic dose or replacing orphenadrine with another anticholinergic agent. The corresponding number for biperiden users was 19.3%. Only 11.8% of patients switched to another antipsychotic drug, but they used significantly lower antipsychotic doses than those who stayed on the same drug.

CONCLUSION

The use of anticholinergic antiparkinson agents could be seen as superfluous for at least one-third of patients.

Adverse reactions to oxacillin in hospitalized children: a prospective study

OBJECTIVES: follow-up of children exposed to oxacillin during hospitalization focusing on adverse reactions. METHODS: patients were selected from the pediatric wards of two hospitals in Fortaleza (Hospital Universitário Walter Cantídio-HUWC and Hospital Infantil Albert Sabin-HIAS) from the first oxacillin prescription with a prospective cohort study between October, 2000 and July, 2001 (HUWC) and July/2001 and March, 2002 (HIAS). Patients' follow-up was performed by daily visits to the wards and medical charts and prescription analysis. Suspected oxacillininduced adverse reactions (OxAR cases) were notified and classified according to causality and severity. Related statistic tests were completed. RESULTS: of the 130 patients exposed to oxacillin, 27 had OxAR (20.8%). Fever was the most frequent reaction (50%) followed by rash (35.7%). The majority of reactions were considered Probable, for oxacillin was the only medication involved and 92.6% of the cases had Moderate severity with the need of therapeutic interventions caused by OxAR. A significant relation between oxacillin exposure time and OxAR was determined as well as hospitalization time and the appearance of adverse reactions. Exposure time over 14 days to oxacillin was established as a risk factor for OxAR (relative risk = 5.49). CONCLUSIONS: careful administration of oxacillin in children is recommended with established treatment duration. Empiric and prolonged use must be avoided.

Perspectives on Drug and Therapeutics Committee policy implementation

BACKGROUND

Drug and therapeutics committees (DTCs) are expected to make difficult decisions that may have an impact on the clinical and economic outcomes of drug use. There have been few studies investigating the barriers to DTC policy implementation, and little is known about ways to improve the process.

OBJECTIVES

The specific objectives of this qualitative study were to explore stakeholder opinions with respect to (1) the perceptions of barriers to Drug and Therapeutics Committee (DTC) policy implementation and (2) ways to improve DTC policy implementation.

METHODS

Stakeholders of Australian DTCs participated in focus group discussions. Discussions were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. Thematic content analysis was conducted.

RESULTS

Six focus group discussions were conducted. A number of barriers were identified (lack of resources, lack of follow-up, lack of ownership, low DTC profile within the organization, and overreliance on pharmacy to implement policy). Participants were of the opinion that prioritizing decisions, optimizing pharmacy roles, provision of real-time information, and active procurement of organizational commitment were some of the ways to improve DTC policy implementation.

CONCLUSIONS

Although this study was conducted in an Australian setting, the challenges facing DTCs in other countries are likely to be similar. Ownership, social influence, and resources are important issues in the implementation of policy/guidelines for many DTCs, both in Australia and internationally. It is expected that these issues will have an impact on policy implementation. Therefore, the findings of this study may be widely applicable. This work reinforced the notion that the significance of DTCs lies beyond decision making alone. The time and expertise invested in decision making could be undermined, if DTC policies are not effectively implemented.

Measuring change in prescription drug utilization in Australia

PURPOSE

The National Prescribing Service Ltd (NPS) aims to improve prescribing and use of medicines consistent with evidence-based best practice. This report compares two statistical methods used to determine whether multiple educational interventions influenced antibiotic prescription in Australia.

METHODS

Monthly data (July 1996 to June 2003) were obtained from a national claims database. The outcome measures were the median number of antibiotic prescriptions per 1000 consultations for each general practitioner (GP) each month, and the mean proportion (across GPs) of each subgroup of antibiotics (e.g. roxithromycin) out of nine antibiotics having primary use for upper respiratory tract infection. Two approaches were used to investigate shifts in prescribing: augmented regression, which included seasonality, autocorrelation and one intervention; and seasonally adjusted piecewise linear dynamic regression, which removed seasonality prior to modelling, included several interventions, GP participation and autocorrelated errors. Both methods are variations of piecewise linear regression modelling.

RESULTS

Both approaches described a similar decrease in rates, with a non-significant change after the first intervention. The inclusion of more interventions and GP participation made no difference. Using roxithromycin as an example of the analyses of proportions, both approaches implied that after the first intervention the proportion decreased significantly. The statistical significance of this intervention disappears when other interventions are included.

CONCLUSIONS

The two analyses provide results which agree regarding the possible impact of the NPS interventions, but raise questions about what is the best way to model drug utilization, particularly regarding whether to include all intervention terms when they belong to an extended roll-out of related interventions.

Risk of cholestatic liver disease associated with flucloxacillin and flucloxacillin prescribing habits in the UK: cohort study using data from the UK General Practice Research Database

AIMS

To provide additional quantification of the risk of flucloxacillin-related liver disease and to describe time trends in flucloxacillin prescribing in the UK.

METHODS

This was a cohort study using data from the UK General Practice Research Database. We identified patients with a first-time prescription for flucloxacillin or, for comparison, oxytetracycline from 1992 to 2002 and cases who developed clinically documented cholestatic liver disease of uncertain origin after first-time use of these drugs. We also determined the annual frequency of first-time use of flucloxacillin from 1991 to 2000.

RESULTS

We identified 283 097 and 131 189 first-time users of flucloxacillin and oxytetracycline, respectively. The risk of cholestatic liver disease per 100 000 first-time users was 8.5 (95% CI 5.4, 12.6) in the 1-45 days and 1.8 (95% CI 0.6, 4.1) in the 46-90 days after starting flucloxacillin, and 0.8 (95% CI 0.02, 4.3) in the 1-45 days after starting oxytetracycline. The frequency of first-time use of flucloxacillin remained stable between 1991 and 2000.

CONCLUSIONS

Flucloxacillin is now established as an important cause of cholestatic liver disease. Warnings about the risk have not had an impact on prescribing practices in the UK, where it remains the predominantly prescribed antistaphylococcal oral antibiotic. This situation in the UK is in sharp contrast to regulatory actions and changes in prescribing habits in Australia after identification of the risk of cholestasis associated with flucloxacillin, and to the predominant use of the alternative drug dicloxacillin in the USA.

Use of the transtheoretical model in the medication use process

OBJECTIVE

To review articles published during the past 10 years relating to the transtheoretical model (TTM) and the medication use process, focusing on prescribing, dispensing, and using prescription and nonprescription medications for legitimate purposes.

DATA SOURCES

MEDLINE, Cochrane database, PsychINFO, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, and PubMed were searched from 1995 to August 2004 using the key terms models, psychological; prescriptions, drug; drugs, nonprescription; models, theoretical; self medication; patient compliance; medication compliance; decision making; drug therapy and behavior change. Additional searches included the following terms: pharmacists, community; TTM; transtheoretical model, pharmacy services, new practice patterns and physician practice patterns.

STUDY SELECTION AND DATA EXTRACTION

Studies with empirical application of any aspect of TTM were included. Abstracts were reviewed by both authors, and data were independently abstracted including, for example, specific aspects of TTM used or tested, context for model use or setting, and results and authors' suggestions for future use of TTM. The reviewers came to consensus on all abstracted information.

DATA SYNTHESIS

Eleven articles were identified that contained TTM and drug use; however, only 5 were empirical applications. There were 2 types of applications of TTM in medication use: measurement of stage of change regarding adherence and prediction of adherence using TTM concepts. A 1- and 2-item measure of adherence stage of change have been validated. Medication adherence stage of change varied by type of drug. The pros and cons of taking the medicine and stage of change were useful in predicting adherence. No intervention studies to improve adherence were identified.

CONCLUSIONS

TTM has not been used extensively to examine the medication use process. Without further research, no clear recommendation can be provided as to the effectiveness of TTM in improving the drug use process, but it remains promising.

Communication of medical product risk: how effective is effective enough?

Ever-increasing attention is being paid worldwide to the safety of medical products, and the risks associated with their use. The integral role of risk communication in overall risk management is demonstrated by several recent market withdrawals of drugs, in which a perceived incapability of healthcare systems to manage well-characterised, avoidable risks was a significant factor. With advances in clinical pharmacology, pharmacogenomics and pharmacoepidemiology expanding our knowledge of medical products, effective delivery of the latest safety-related information to health professionals and consumers becomes even more imperative. In this regard, it is important to evaluate whether current modes of risk communication lead to desired changes in relevant behaviours such as prescribing or drug monitoring, particularly in context with which achieved level of effectiveness is deemed acceptable. This is crucial, as there have been product-specific risk communication efforts that achieved a fair degree of success, yet were not seen as effective enough to prevent market withdrawal of the medical product in question. In the service of improving public health through enhanced risk communication, it is essential to critically assess current methods, both as to results achieved (or not), and whether each method is applicable to the various types of risks associated with medical product use. Furthermore, just as combining methods may well improve overall risk communication, there are societal and psychological factors that must be considered in attempting to maximise effectiveness. However, in assessing risk communication effectiveness, the particular benefit- risk relationship of any individual medical product must also be part of the evaluative process.

Effectiveness of an educational intervention in modifying parental attitudes about antibiotic usage in children

OBJECTIVE

To determine the effectiveness of educational materials in improving the attitudes of parents of young children about the judicious use of antibiotics.

METHODS

We conducted a randomized controlled trial by recruiting parents of children who were younger than 24 months and being seen for any reason in primary care pediatric offices. At the time of enrollment, study parents indicated their level of agreement with 16 statements, including 9 statements about antibiotic usage and 7 about injury prevention. After being randomized, parents received either a pamphlet and a videotape promoting the judicious use of antibiotics (intervention group) or brochures about effective injury prevention (control group). Six weeks after enrollment, each group received another copy of the pamphlet or brochures and a follow-up questionnaire with the identical 16 statements. Responses on both questionnaires were transformed to an ordinal scale for analysis. Scores on the follow-up questionnaire for each statement about antibiotic use and injury prevention in the 2 groups were compared using linear regression, after controlling for the score obtained for the statement at enrollment.

RESULTS

We enrolled a total of 499 eligible parents in the study; 358 (72%) completed the follow-up questionnaires. At study entry, there were no significant differences between parents in the intervention and control groups regarding attitudes for 15 of the 16 statements assessed. However, 6 weeks after receiving the antibiotic educational materials, parents in the intervention group had significantly different attitude scores for 5 of the 9 statements about the antibiotic use. In each case, the scores reflected attitudes that would promote the judicious use of antibiotics. We found significant attitudinal change for statements about the use of antibiotics for specific conditions in children; there were no differences between the 2 groups for more general or theoretical statements about antibiotic use.

CONCLUSIONS

A simple educational effort was successful in modifying parental attitudes about the judicious use of antibiotics. Information about specific childhood conditions may be more effective in changing attitudes than more general information about antibiotic usage.