Interventions to reduce medication errors in adult intensive care: a systematic review

Targeting zero medication administration errors in the pediatric intensive care unit: A Quality Improvement project

BACKGROUND

Medication errors and adverse drug events have a significant impact on mortality and morbidity among hospitalized children, and are more likely to occur in critical care settings due to the fast-paced environment and patient vulnerability. There is no exception to this rule in our pediatric intensive care unit, a 28-bed unit at a tertiary care children's hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

PROBLEM ASSESSMENT

A medication administration error rate of 6.25-8.05/1000 patient days was reported in our unit (48 errors), taking into account only errors that reached patients. Toward improving patient safety, a project was launched to reduce medication errors.

DESIGN

Multidisciplinary quality improvement team reviewed baseline data and analyzed medication errors that occurred in 2019. Five Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles were implemented. As an outcome measure, the medication error rate was monitored.

RESULTS

The outcome measure of medication administration error rates was monitored quarterly. An improvement of 75% during the first quarter of 2021 to a rate of zero medication errors/1000 patient days during the first quarter of 2022. A decrease in medication errors was attributed to improved situational awareness and increased compliance with assisted technology.

CONCLUSION

Medication errors can be decreased by deploying various interventions utilizing human- and technology-based approaches. When it comes to reducing medication errors in the pediatric intensive care unit, a multidisciplinary approach is paramount.

IMPLICATIONS FOR CLINICAL PRACTICE

This study suggests several ways to reduce medication errors. Implementing information technology systems and involving pharmacists in medication management can help prevent errors. Enhancing teamwork, communication, and collaboration among healthcare professionals is also important. Clinical risk management strategies, nursing interventions, and adherence to medication safety guidelines are essential, especially for pediatric and neonatal populations. Considering these clinical implications can guide healthcare professionals and organizations in addressing medication errors and enhancing patient safety.

Effectiveness of nonpharmacological interventions to prevent adverse events in the intensive care unit: A review of systematic reviews

BACKGROUND

Different types of interventions have been assessed for the prevention of adverse events. However, determining which patient-safety practice is most effective can be challenging when there is no systematised evidence synthesis. An overview following the best methodological standards can provide the best reliable integrative evidence.

OBJECTIVES

The objective of this study was to provide an overview of effectiveness nonpharmacological interventions aimed at preventing adverse events in the intensive care unit.

METHODS

A review of systematic reviews (SRs) was conducted according to the Cochrane Handbook and PRISMA recommendations. PubMed, CINAHL, and Cochrane Library were searched for SRs published until March 2022. Two reviewers independently assessed the study's quality, using AMSTAR-2, and extracted data on intervention characteristics and effect on prevention of adverse events.

RESULTS

Thirty-seven SRs were included, and 27 nonpharmacological interventions were identified to prevent 11 adverse events. Most of the reviews had critically low methodological quality. Among all the identified interventions, subglottic secretion drainage, semirecumbent position, and kinetic bed therapy were effective in preventing ventilator-associated pneumonia; the use of earplugs, early mobilisation, family participation, and music in reducing delirium; physical rehabilitation in improving muscle strength; use of respiratory support in preventing reintubation; the use of a computerised physician order entry system in reducing risk of medication errors; and the use of heated water humidifier was effective in reducing artificial airway occlusion.

CONCLUSIONS

Some nonpharmacological interventions reduced adverse events in the intensive care setting. These findings should be interpreted carefully due to the low methodological quality. SRs on preventing adverse events in the intensive care unit should adhere to quality assessment tools so that best evidence can be used in decision-making.

Understanding medication safety involving patient transfer from intensive care to hospital ward: a qualitative sociotechnical factor study

OBJECTIVE

To understand the sociotechnical factors affecting medication safety when intensive care patients are transferred to a hospital ward. Consideration of these medication safety factors would provide a theoretical basis, on which future interventions can be developed and evaluated to improve patient care.

DESIGN

Qualitative study using semistructured interviews of intensive care and hospital ward-based healthcare professionals. Transcripts were anonymised prior to thematic analysis using the London Protocol and Systems Engineering in Patient Safety V.3.0 model frameworks.

SETTING

Four north of England National Health Service hospitals. All hospitals used electronic prescribing in intensive care and hospital ward settings.

PARTICIPANTS

Intensive care and hospital ward healthcare professionals (intensive care medical staff, advanced practitioners, pharmacists and outreach team members; ward-based medical staff and clinical pharmacists).

RESULTS

Twenty-two healthcare professionals were interviewed. We identified 13 factors within five broad themes, describing the interactions that most strongly influenced the performance of the intensive care to hospital ward system interface. The themes were: Complexity of process performance and interactions; Time pressures and considerations; Communication processes and challenges; Technology and systems and Beliefs about consequences for the patient and organisation.

CONCLUSIONS

The complexity of the interactions on the system performance and time dependency was clear. We make several recommendations for policy change and further research based on improving: availability of hospital-wide integrated and functional electronic prescribing systems, patient flow systems, sufficient multiprofessional critical care staffing, knowledge and skills of staff, team performance, communication and collaboration and patient and family engagement.

Medication reconciliation for patients after their discharge from intensive care unit to the hospital ward

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to determine whether the transition of care from the intensive care unit to the ward would pose a high risk for reconciliation errors. The primary outcome of this study was to describe and quantify the discrepancies and reconciliation errors. Secondary outcomes included classification of the reconciliation errors by type of medication error, therapeutic group of the drugs involved and grade of potential severity.

METHODS

We conducted a retrospective observational study of reconciliated adult patients discharged from the Intensive Care Unit to the ward. Before a patient was discharged from the intensive care unit, their last intensive care unit's prescriptions were compared with their proposed medication list in the ward. The discrepancies between these were classified as justified discrepancies or reconciliation errors. Reconciliation errors were classified by type of error, potential severity, and therapeutic group.

RESULTS

We found that 452 patients were reconciliated. At least one discrepancy was detected in 34.29% (155/452), and 18.14% (82/452) had at least one reconciliation errors. The most found error types were a different dose or administration route (31.79% (48/151)) and omission errors (31.79% (48/151)). High alert medication was involved in 19.20% of reconciliation errors (29/151).

CONCLUSIONS

Our study shows that intensive care unit to non-intensive care unit transitions are high-risk processes for reconciliation error. They frequently occur and occasionally involve high alert medication, and their severity could require additional monitoring or cause temporary harm. Medication reconciliation can reduce reconciliation errors.

Medication reconciliation for patients after their discharge from intensive care unit to the hospital ward

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study was to determine whether the transition of care from the intensive care unit to the ward would pose a high risk for reconciliation errors. The primary outcome of this study was to describe and quantify the discrepancies and reconciliation errors. Secondary outcomes included classification of the reconciliation errors by type of medication error, therapeutic group of the drugs involved and grade of potential severity.

METHODS

We conducted a retrospective observational study of reconciliated adult patients discharged from the Intensive Care Unit to the ward. Before a patient was discharged from the intensive care unit, their last intensive care unit's prescriptions were compared with their proposed medication list in the ward. The discrepancies between these were classified as justified discrepancies or reconciliation errors. Reconciliation errors were classified by type of error, potential severity, and therapeutic group.

RESULTS

We found that 452 patients were reconciliated. At least one discrepancy was detected in 34.29% (155/452), and 18.14% (82/452) had at least one reconciliation errors. The most found error types were a different dose or administration route (31.79% [48/151]) and omission errors (31.79% [48/151]). High alert medication was involved in 19.20% of reconciliation errors (29/151).

CONCLUSIONS

Our study shows that intensive care unit to non-intensive care unit transitions are high-risk processes for reconciliation error. They frequently occur and occasionally involve high alert medication, and their severity could require additional monitoring or cause temporary harm. Medication reconciliation can reduce reconciliation errors.

Assessment of the implementation of safe medication practices in Intensive Medicine Units

OBJECTIVE

To assess the level of implementation of medication safety practices in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) and to identify opportunities for improvement.

DESIGN

A descriptive multicenter study was carried out.

SETTING

Intensive Care Units.

PARTICIPANTS/PROCEDURE

A total of 40 ICUs voluntarily completed the "Medication use-system safety self-assessment for Intensive Care Units" between March and September 2020. The survey comprised 147 items for evaluation grouped into 10 key elements.

MAIN VARIABLES

Calculation was made of the mean scores and mean percentages based on the maximum possible values for the overall survey, referred to the key elements and to each individual item for evaluation.

RESULTS

The mean score of the overall questionnaire among the participating ICUs was 436.8 (49.2% of the maximum possible score). No differences were found according to functional dependence, size of the hospital or type of ICU. The key elements referred to the incorporation of clinical pharmacists in these Units, as well as the competence and training of the professionals in safety practices yielded the lowest values (31.2% and 33.2%, respectively). Three other key elements related to accessibility to information about patients and medicines; to the standardization, storage and distribution of medicines; and to the quality and risk management programs, yielded percentages <50%.

CONCLUSIONS

Numerous effective safety medication practices have been identified with a low level of implementation in ICUs. This situation must be addressed in order to reduce medication errors in critically ill patients.

Medication Errors in Intensive Care Units: An Umbrella Review of Control Measures

Medication errors are defined as “any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or patient harm while the medication is in the control of the health care professional, patient, or consumer.” Such errors account for 30 to 50 percent of all errors in health care. The literature is replete with systematic reviews of medication errors, with a considerable number of studies focusing on systems and strategies to prevent errors in intensive care units, where these errors occur more frequently; however, to date, there appears to be no study that encapsulates and analyzes the various strategies. The aim of this study is to identify the main strategies and interventions for preventing medication errors in intensive care units through an umbrella review. The search was conducted on the following databases: PubMed, CINAHL, PsycInfo, Embase, and Scopus; it was completed in November 2020. Seven systematic reviews were included in this review, with a total of 47 studies selected. All reviews aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a single intervention or a combination of interventions and strategies to prevent and reduce medication errors. Analysis of the results that emerged identified two macro-areas for the prevention of medication errors: systems and processes. In addition, the findings highlight the importance of adopting an integrated system of interventions in order to protect the system from harm and contain the negative consequences of errors.

Systemic Causes of In-Hospital Intravenous Medication Errors: A Systematic Review

OBJECTIVES

Delivery of intravenous medications in hospitals is a complex process posing to systemic risks for errors. The aim of this study was to identify systemic causes of in-hospital intravenous medication errors.

METHODS

A systematic review adhering to PRISMA guidelines was conducted. We searched MEDLINE (Ovid), Scopus, CINAHL, and EMB reviews for articles published between January 2005 and June 2016. Peer-reviewed journal articles published in English were included. Two reviewers independently selected articles according to a predetermined PICO tool. The quality of studies was assessed using the GRADE system and the evidence analyzed using qualitative content analysis.

RESULTS

Eleven studies from six countries were included in the analysis. We identified systemic causes related to prescribing (n = 6 studies), preparation (n = 6), administration (n = 6), dispensing and storage (n = 5), and treatment monitoring (n = 2). Administration, prescribing, and preparation were the process phases most prone to systemic errors. Insufficient actions to secure safe use of high-alert medications, lack of knowledge of the drug, calculation tasks, failure in double-checking procedures, and confusion between look-alike, sound-alike medications were the leading causes of intravenous medication errors. The number of the included studies was limited, all of them being observational studies and graded as low quality.

CONCLUSIONS

Current intravenous medication systems remain vulnerable, which can result in patient harm. Our findings suggest further focus on medication safety activities related to administration, prescribing, and preparation of intravenous medications. This study provides healthcare organizations with preliminary knowledge about systemic causes of intravenous medication errors, but more rigorous evidence is needed.

Systemic Defenses to Prevent Intravenous Medication Errors in Hospitals: A Systematic Review

OBJECTIVES

Intravenous medication delivery is a complex process that poses systemic risks of errors. The objective of our study was to identify systemic defenses that can prevent in-hospital intravenous (IV) medication errors.

METHODS

A systematic review adhering to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines was conducted. We searched MEDLINE (Ovid), Scopus, CINAHL, and EMB reviews for articles published between January 2005 and June 2016. Peer-reviewed journal articles published in English were included. Two reviewers independently selected articles according to a predetermined PICO tool. The quality of studies was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation system, and the evidence was analyzed using qualitative content analysis.

RESULTS

Forty-six studies from 11 countries were included in the analysis. We identified systemic defenses related to administration (n = 24 studies), prescribing (n = 8), preparation (n = 6), treatment monitoring (n = 2), and dispensing (n = 1). In addition, 5 studies explored defenses related to multiple stages of the drug delivery process. Systemic defenses including features of closed-loop medication management systems appeared in 61% of the studies, with smart pumps being the defense most widely studied (24%). The evidence quality of the included articles was limited, as 83% were graded as low quality, 13% were of moderate quality, and only 4% were of high quality.

CONCLUSIONS

In-hospital IV medication processes are developing toward closed-loop medication management systems. Our study provides health care organizations with preliminary knowledge about systemic defenses that can prevent IV medication errors, but more rigorous evidence is needed. There is a need for further studies to explore combinations of different systemic defenses and their effectiveness in error prevention throughout the drug delivery process.

Assessment of the implementation of safe medication practices in Intensive Medicine Units

OBJECTIVE

To assess the level of implementation of medication safety practices in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) and to identify opportunities for improvement.

DESIGN

A descriptive multicenter study was carried out.

SETTING

Intensive Care Units.

PARTICIPANTS/PROCEDURE

A total of 40 ICUs voluntarily completed the "Medication use-system safety self-assessment for Intensive Care Units" between March and September 2020. The survey comprised 147 items for evaluation grouped into 10 key elements.

MAIN VARIABLES

Calculation was made of the mean scores and mean percentages based on the maximum possible values for the overall survey, for the key elements and for each individual item for evaluation.

RESULTS

The mean score of the overall questionnaire among the participating ICUs was 436.8 (49.2% of the maximum possible score). No differences were found according to functional dependence, size of the hospital or type of ICU. The key elements referred to the incorporation of clinical pharmacists in these units, as well as the competence and training of the professionals in safety practices yielded the lowest values (31.2% and 33.2%, respectively). Three other key elements related to accessibility to information about patients and medicines; to the standardization, storage and distribution of medicines; and to the quality and risk management programs, yielded percentages below 50%.

CONCLUSIONS

Numerous effective safety medication practices have been identified with a low level of implementation in ICUs. This situation must be addressed in order to reduce medication errors in critically ill patients.

Investigation of interventions to reduce nurses' medication errors in adult intensive care units: A systematic review

BACKGROUND

Medication errors in adult intensive care units (ICUs) are both frequent and harmful. For nurses, these errors may be multifactorial and multidisciplinary, extending from prescription stage to monitoring of patient response to medication. Therefore, diverse interventions have been developed to optimise the medication process to prevent such errors.

OBJECTIVES

The objective of this systematic review was to identify research investigating interventions that may be effective in reducing the rate of nurses' medication errors in adult ICUs.

METHODS

A systematic search was undertaken of three databases: Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online, and EMCARE using a combination of key terms related to "medication errors", "nurses", "interventions", and "intensive care units". The search was limited to studies published in English between 2009 and 2019. Independent screening, quality appraisal, and data extraction were undertaken by two reviewers.

RESULTS

A total of 464 records were identified from database searches. Eleven studies met inclusion criteria: ten were quasi-experimental designs and one was a randomised controlled trial. Studies examined six types of interventions: prefilled syringes, barcode-assisted medication administration, an automated dispensing system, nursing education programs, a protocolised program logic form, and a preventive interventions program with protocols and pharmacist-supported supervision and monitoring. Findings revealed that a prefilled syringe, nurses' education programs, and the protocolised program logic form were most effective in reducing medication errors. For the barcode-assisted medication administration, automated dispensing systems, and a preventive interventions program with protocols and pharmacist-supported supervision and monitoring, results showed wide variability in effectiveness.

CONCLUSION

This review found that the evidence for effective interventions to reduce nurses' medication errors in adult ICUs is limited, due largely to inconsistencies in research design and methods. Therefore, further studies such as randomised controlled trials focusing on a single intervention are required to provide robust evidence of the effectiveness of interventions.

Effectiveness, safety and implementation results of the strategies aimed at the safe prescription of medications in university hospitals in adult patients. Systematic review

Introduction: A broad range of practices aimed at improving the effectives and safety of this process have been documented over the past few years. Objective: to establish the effectiveness, safety and results of the implementation of these strategies in adult patients in university hospitals. Methodology: A review of systematic reviews was conducted, in addition to a database search in the Cochrane Library of Systematic Reviews, Embase, Epistemonikos, LILACS and gray literature. Any strategy aimed at reducing prescription-associated risks was included as intervention. This review followed the protocol registered in the International Prospective Registry of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO): CRD42020165143. Results: 7,637 studies were identified, upon deleting duplicate references. After excluding records based on titles and abstracts, 111 full texts were assessed for eligibility. Fifteen studies were included in the review. Several interventions grouped into 5 strategies addressed to the prescription process were identified; the use of computerized medical order entry systems (CPOE), whether integrated or not with computerized decision support systems (CDSS), was the most effective approach. Conclusions: The beneficial effects of the interventions intended to the prescription process in terms of efficacy were identified; however, safety and implementation results were not thoroughly assessed. The heterogeneity of the studies and the low quality of the reviews, preclude a meta-analysis.

Pharmacist-led educational interventions provided to healthcare providers to reduce medication errors: A systematic review and meta-analysis

INTRODUCTION

Medication errors are avoidable events that can occur at any stage of the medication use process. They are widespread in healthcare systems and are linked to an increased risk of morbidity and mortality. Several strategies have been studied to reduce their occurrence including different types of pharmacy-based interventions. One of the main pharmacist-led interventions is educational programs, which seem to have promising benefits.

OBJECTIVE

To describe and compare various pharmacist-led educational interventions delivered to healthcare providers and to evaluate their impact qualitatively and quantitatively on medication error rates.

METHODS

A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted through searching Cochrane Library, EBSCO, EMBASE, Medline and Google Scholar from inception to June 2020. Only interventional studies that reported medication error rate change after the intervention were included. Two independent authors worked through the data extraction and quality assessment using Crowe Critical Appraisal Tool (CCAT). Summary odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using a random-effects model for rates of medication errors. Research protocol is available in The International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) under the registration number CRD42019116465.

RESULTS

Twelve studies involving 115058 participants were included. The two main recipients of the educational interventions were nurses and resident physicians. Educational programs involved lectures, posters, practical teaching sessions, audit and feedback method and flash cards of high-risk abbreviations. All studies included educational sessions as part of their program, either alone or in combination with other approaches, and most studies used errors encountered before implementing the intervention to inform the content of these sessions. Educational programs led by a pharmacist were associated with significant reductions in the overall rate of medication errors occurrence (OR, 0.38; 95% CI, 0.22 to 0.65).

CONCLUSION

Pharmacist-led educational interventions directed to healthcare providers are effective at reducing medication error rates. This review supports the implementation of pharmacist-led educational intervention aimed at reducing medication errors.

How effective are electronic medication systems in reducing medication error rates and associated harm among hospital inpatients? A systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE

To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess: 1) changes in medication error rates and associated patient harm following electronic medication system (EMS) implementation; and 2) evidence of system-related medication errors facilitated by the use of an EMS.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We searched Medline, Scopus, Embase, and CINAHL for studies published between January 2005 and March 2019, comparing medication errors rates with or without assessments of related harm (actual or potential) before and after EMS implementation. EMS was defined as a computer-based system enabling the prescribing, supply, and/or administration of medicines. Study quality was assessed.

RESULTS

There was substantial heterogeneity in outcomes of the 18 included studies. Only 2 were strong quality. Meta-analysis of 5 studies reporting change in actual harm post-EMS showed no reduced risk (RR: 1.22, 95% CI: 0.18-8.38, P = .8) and meta-analysis of 3 studies reporting change in administration errors found a significant reduction in error rates (RR: 0.77, 95% CI: 0.72-0.83, P = .004). Of 10 studies of prescribing error rates, 9 reported a reduction but variable denominators precluded meta-analysis. Twelve studies provided specific examples of system-related medication errors; 5 quantified their occurrence.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

Despite the wide-scale adoption of EMS in hospitals around the world, the quality of evidence about their effectiveness in medication error and associated harm reduction is variable. Some confidence can be placed in the ability of systems to reduce prescribing error rates. However, much is still unknown about mechanisms which may be most effective in improving medication safety and design features which facilitate new error risks.

Clinical decision support systems-based interventions to improve medication outcomes: A systematic literature review on features and effects

Background: Clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) interventions were used to improve the life quality and safety in patients and also to improve practitioner performance, especially in the field of medication. Therefore, the aim of the paper was to summarize the available evidence on the impact, outcomes and significant factors on the implementation of CDSS in the field of medicine. Methods: This study is a systematic literature review. PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Scopus, EMBASE, and ProQuest were investigated by 15 February 2017. The inclusion requirements were met by 98 papers, from which 13 had described important factors in the implementation of CDSS, and 86 were medicated-related. We categorized the system in terms of its correlation with medication in which a system was implemented, and our intended results were examined. In this study, the process outcomes (such as; prescription, drug-drug interaction, drug adherence, etc.), patient outcomes, and significant factors affecting the implementation of CDSS were reviewed. Results: We found evidence that the use of medication-related CDSS improves clinical outcomes. Also, significant results were obtained regarding the reduction of prescription errors, and the improvement in quality and safety of medication prescribed. Conclusion: The results of this study show that, although computer systems such as CDSS may cause errors, in most cases, it has helped to improve prescribing, reduce side effects and drug interactions, and improve patient safety. Although these systems have improved the performance of practitioners and processes, there has not been much research on the impact of these systems on patient outcomes.

Interventions to ensure medication safety in acute care: an umbrella review

BACKGROUND

Medication errors are one of the leading avoidable sources of harm to hospital patients. In hospitals, a range of interventions have been used to reduce the risk of errors at each of the points they may occur, such as prescription, dispensing and/or administration. Systematic reviews have been conducted on many of these interventions; however, it is difficult to compare the clinical utility of any of the separate interventions without the use of a rigorous umbrella review methodology.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this umbrella review was to synthesize the evidence from all systematic reviews investigating the effectiveness of medication safety interventions, in comparison to any or no comparator, for preventing medication errors, medication-related harms and death in acute care patients.

METHOD

The review considered quantitative systematic reviews with participants who were healthcare workers involved in prescribing, dispensing or administering medications. These healthcare workers were registered nurses, enrolled or licensed vocational nurses, midwives, pharmacists or medical doctors. Interventions of interest were those designed to prevent medication error in acute care settings. Eligible systematic reviews reported medication errors, medication-related harms and medication-related death as measured by error rates, numbers of adverse events and numbers of medication-related deaths. To qualify for inclusion, systematic reviews needed to provide a clearly articulated and comprehensive search strategy, and evidence of critical appraisal of the included studies using a standardized tool. Systematic reviews published in English since 2007 were included until present (March 2020). We searched a range of databases such MEDLINE, CINAHL, Web of Science, EMBASE, and The Cochrane Library for potentially eligible reviews. Identified citations were screened by two reviewers working independently. Potentially eligible articles were retrieved and assessed against the inclusion criteria and those meeting the criteria were then critically appraised using the JBI SUMARI instrument for assessing the methodological quality of systematic reviews and research syntheses. A predetermined quality threshold was used to exclude studies based on their reported methods. Following critical appraisal, data were extracted from the included studies by two independent reviewers using the relevant instrument in JBI SUMARI. Extracted findings were synthesized narratively and presented in tables to illustrate the reported outcomes for each intervention. The strength of the evidence for each intervention was indicated using 'traffic light' colors: green for effective interventions, amber for interventions with no evidence of an effect and red for interventions less effective than the comparison.

RESULTS

A total of 23 systematic reviews were included in this umbrella review. Most reviews did not report the number of participants in their included studies. Interventions targeted pharmacists, medical doctors, medical students and nurses, or were nonspecific about the participants. The majority of included reviews examined single interventions. All reviews were published and in English. Four interventions, medication administration education, medication reconciliation or review, specialist pharmacists' roles and physical or design modifications, reported effectiveness in reducing errors; however, heterogeneity between the included studies in these reviews was high.

CONCLUSION

For some interventions, there are strong indications of effectiveness in reducing medication errors in the inpatient setting. Government initiatives, policy makers and practitioners interested in improving medication safety are encouraged to adopt those interventions.

Harm Prevalence Due to Medication Errors Involving High-Alert Medications: A Systematic Review

OBJECTIVE

The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence and main types of harm caused by high-alert medication after medication errors (MEs) in hospitals.

METHOD

A literature systematic review was conducted on PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Lilacs. Eligible studies published until June 2017 were included.

RESULT

Of 6244 studies identified through searching four electronic databases, five studies meeting the selection criteria of this study were analyzed. There was wide variation in the overall prevalence of harm due to MEs involving HAM, from 3.8% to 100%, whereas the pooled prevalence was 16.3%. Overall, 0.01% of harm caused by MEs involving HAM resulted in death. The severity of errors ranged from 0.1% to 19.2% for moderate errors, 0.2% to 15.4% for serious errors, and 1.9% lethal to the patients. The highest prevalences of harm occurred after errors involving potassium chloride 15%, insulin, and epoprostenol. The lowest prevalence of harm was related to errors of anticoagulants administration. The methodological heterogeneity limited direct comparisons among the studies.

CONCLUSIONS

Of the 15 drugs on the list of Institute for Safe Medication Practices HAMs in the United States and Brazil, nine did not present scientific evidence of the potential for harm. In general, few studies, characterized by methodological and conceptual heterogeneity, were performed to determine the harm prevalence resulting from errors involving these drugs.

Interventions to reduce medication errors in adult medical and surgical settings: a systematic review

Background and Aims:

Medication errors occur at any point of the medication management process, and are a major cause of death and harm globally. The objective of this review was to compare the effectiveness of different interventions in reducing prescribing, dispensing and administration medication errors in acute medical and surgical settings.

Methods:

The protocol for this systematic review was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42019124587). The library databases, MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched from inception to February 2019. Studies were included if they involved testing of an intervention aimed at reducing medication errors in adult, acute medical or surgical settings. Meta-analyses were performed to examine the effectiveness of intervention types.

Results:

A total of 34 articles were included with 12 intervention types identified. Meta-analysis showed that prescribing errors were reduced by pharmacist-led medication reconciliation, computerised medication reconciliation, pharmacist partnership, prescriber education, medication reconciliation by trained mentors and computerised physician order entry (CPOE) as single interventions. Medication administration errors were reduced by CPOE and the use of an automated drug distribution system as single interventions. Combined interventions were also found to be effective in reducing prescribing or administration medication errors. No interventions were found to reduce dispensing error rates. Most studies were conducted at single-site hospitals, with chart review being the most common method for collecting medication error data. Clinical significance of interventions was examined in 21 studies. Since many studies were conducted in a pre–post format, future studies should include a concurrent control group.

Conclusion:

The systematic review identified a number of single and combined intervention types that were effective in reducing medication errors, which clinicians and policymakers could consider for implementation in medical and surgical settings. New directions for future research should examine interdisciplinary collaborative approaches comprising physicians, pharmacists and nurses.

Lay summary

Activities to reduce medication errors in adult medical and surgical hospital areas

Introduction:

Medication errors or mistakes may happen at any time in hospital, and they are a major reason for death and harm around the world.

Objective:

To compare the effectiveness of different activities in reducing medication errors occurring with prescribing, giving and supplying medications in adult medical and surgical settings in hospital.

Methods:

Six library databases were examined from the time they were developed to February 2019. Studies were included if they involved testing of an activity aimed at reducing medication errors in adult medical and surgical settings in hospital. Statistical analysis was used to look at the success of different types of activities.

Results:

A total of 34 studies were included with 12 activity types identified. Statistical analysis showed that prescribing errors were reduced by pharmacists matching medications, computers matching medications, partnerships with pharmacists, prescriber education, medication matching by trained physicians, and computerised physician order entry (CPOE). Medication-giving errors were reduced by the use of CPOE and an automated medication distribution system. The combination of different activity types were also shown to be successful in reducing prescribing or medication-giving errors. No activities were found to be successful in reducing errors relating to supplying medications. Most studies were conducted at one hospital with reviewing patient charts being the most common way for collecting information about medication errors. In 21 out of 34 articles, researchers examined the effect of activity types on patient harm caused by medication errors. Many studies did not involve the use of a control group that does not receive the activity.

Conclusion:

A number of activity types were shown to be successful in reducing prescribing and medication-giving errors. New directions for future research should examine activities comprising health professionals working together.

The effects of clinical decision support systems on insulin use: A systematic review

BACKGROUND

A clinical decision support system (CDSS) is a computerized system using case-based reasoning to assist clinicians in assessing disease status, in selecting appropriate therapy or in making other clinical decisions. Previous randomized controlled trials (RCTs or trials) have shown that CDSSs have the potential to improve the insulin use, but the evidence was conflicting and uncertain. The purpose of our study was to determine whether a CDSS improves the use of insulin.

METHOD

PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and ClinicalTrials.gov were searched from their inception to October 2018. The quality assessment was based on the risk of bias criteria of the Cochrane Handbook.

RESULTS

Twenty-four RCTs, involving 7653 participants, were included. Thirteen of those trials (54.2%) used a computerized algorithm or a computer-assisted insulin protocol for insulin dose and therapy adjustment, of which 30.8% (four of 13) found significant changes. Of 10 trials that measured mean blood glucose levels and the 11 trials reported HbA1c, the computerized insulin dose adjustment resulted in lower mean blood glucose levels in 70.0% (seven of 10) and 36.4% (four of 11) of RCTs, respectively. Additionally, a significant reduction of hyperglycaemia events was reported in three of six RCTs. The evidence in a majority of the 24 RCTs was of moderate quality.

CONCLUSIONS

CDSSs have the potential to improve the insulin use and blood glucose control in a clinical setting. The methodologies in these studies were of mixed quality. Better designed and longer-term studies are required to ensure a larger and more reliable evidence base on the effects of CDSS intervention on insulin use.

Patient safety incidents and medication errors during a clinical trial: experience from a pre-hospital randomized controlled trial of emergency medication administration

AIM

To assess and evaluate patient safety incidents and in particular, medication errors, during a large multi-center pre-hospital trial of emergency therapy (PARAMEDIC2), in order to inform and improve future pre-hospital medicines trials.

METHODS

The PARAMEDIC2 trial was undertaken across five NHS Ambulance Services in England and Wales with randomisation between December 2014 and October 2017. Patients with an out -of-hospital cardiac arrest unresponsive to initial resuscitation were randomly assigned to 1 mg intravenous adrenaline or matching placebo. Records were reviewed to identify trial medication errors involving documentation and/or clinical protocol errors occurring in trial participants. Causes of medication errors, including root cause analysis where available, were reviewed to identify patterns and themes contributing to these errors.

RESULTS

Eight thousand sixteen patients were enrolled, of whom 4902 received trial medication. A total of 331 patient safety incidents was reported, involving 295 patients, representing an overall rate of 3.6% of these, 166 (50.2%) were documentation errors while 165 (49.8%) were clinical protocol/medication errors. An overall rate of 0-4.5% was reported across all five ambulance services, with a mean of 2.0%. These errors had no impact on patient care or the trial and were all resolved CONCLUSION: The overall medication error rate of 1.8% primarily consisted of administration of open-label adrenaline and confusion with trial medication packs. A similar number of patients had documentation errors. This study is the first to provide data on patient safety incidents relating to medication errors encountered during a pre-hospital trial of emergency medication administration and will provide supporting data for planning future trials in this area.

Impact of pharmacist interventions on medication errors in hospitalized pediatric patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background Medication errors are avoidable events that may occur at any stage of the medication use process. Implementing a clinical pharmacist is one strategy that is believed to reduce the number of medication errors. Pediatric patients, who are more vulnerable to medication errors due to several contributing factors, may benefit from the interventions of a pharmacist. Aim of the review To qualitatively and quantitatively evaluate the impact of clinical pharmacist interventions on medication error rates for hospitalized pediatric patients. Methods PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Controlled Trials Register and Google Scholar search engines were searched from database inception to February 2020. Study selection, data extraction and quality assessment was conducted by two independent reviewers. Observational and interventional studies were included. Data extraction was done manually and the Crowe Critical Appraisal Tool was used to critically appraise eligible articles. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using a random-effects model for rates of medication errors. Results 19 studies were systematically reviewed and 6 studies (29,291 patients) were included in the meta-analysis. Pharmacist interventions involved delivering educational sessions, reviewing prescriptions, attending rounds and implementing a unit-based clinical pharmacist. The systematic review indicated that the most common trigger for pharmacist interventions was inappropriate dosing. Pharmacist involvement was associated with significant reductions in the overall rate of medication errors occurrence (OR 0.27; 95% CI 0.15 to 0.49). Conclusion Pharmacist interventions are effective for reducing medication error rates in hospitalized pediatric patients.

Review of 128 quality of care mechanisms: A framework and mapping for health system stewards

Health system stewards have the critical task to identify quality of care deficiencies and resolve underlying system limitations. Despite a growing evidence-base on the effectiveness of certain mechanisms for improving quality of care, frameworks to facilitate the oversight function of stewards and the use of mechanisms to improve outcomes remain underdeveloped. This review set out to catalogue a wide range of quality of care mechanisms and evidence on their effectiveness, and to map these in a framework along two dimensions: (i) governance subfunctions; and (ii) targets of quality of care mechanisms. To identify quality of care mechanisms, a series of searches were run in Health Systems Evidence and PubMed. Additional grey literature was reviewed. A total of 128 quality of care mechanisms were identified. For each mechanism, searches were carried out for systematic reviews on their effectiveness. These findings were mapped in the framework defined. The mapping illustrates the range and evidence for mechanisms varies and is more developed for some target areas such as the health workforce. Across the governance sub-functions, more mechanisms and with evidence of effectiveness are found for setting priorities and standards and organizing and monitoring for action. This framework can support system stewards to map the quality of care mechanisms used in their systems and to uncover opportunities for optimization backed by systems thinking.

Identifying characteristics of drug-related problems in critically ill patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis

OBJECTIVES

Characteristics of drug-related problems and related patient harm has not been evaluated in critically ill patients with decompensated cirrhosis. Our objectives were to identify characteristics and incidence rate of drug-related problems and related preventable harm in critically ill patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

A prospective observational study was conducted from February 2018 to January 2019 in 10-bed medical intensive care unit of a tertiary care hospital. Medication charts of 78 patients diagnosed with decompensated cirrhosis were reviewed by the clinical pharmacist. Pharmaceutical care-related standard tools were applied for classification of drug-related problems and their severity of outcomes.

RESULTS

A total of 394 drug-related problems with an incidence rate of 298.48 per 1000 patient medical intensive care unit-day were identified. Most common drug-related problems were drug-drug interaction (48.7%) followed by guideline nonconformity (15.5%), inappropriate drug form (11.9%), and contraindication (9.6%). Approximately 27% of drug-related problems induced preventable harm, which included temporary harm (19.8%), permanent harm (5.8%), and death (0.8%). The incidence rate of preventable harm was found to be 78.78 per 1000 patient medical intensive care unit-day. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs were the most common medications involved in drug-drug interaction, guideline nonconformity, and contraindication which led to gastrointestinal bleeding (24%) and worsening of renal function (11.5%).

CONCLUSION

Drug-related problems occurred commonly in critically ill patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis and induced preventable harm which jeopardized the safety of these vulnerable patients. Clinical pharmacist's intervention is essential for identification of drug-related problems and related preventable harm among these patients.

Effects of pharmacist interventions on reducing prescribing errors of investigational drugs in oncology clinical trials

Objectives

This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of pharmacist intervention in reducing and preventing prescribing errors of investigational drugs for cancer patients.

Materials and methods

A retrospective study was conducted during two periods: a baseline period from December 2015 to June 2016 and an intervention period from July 2016 to February 2017. The investigational drug service (IDS) pharmacists performed active interventions during the intervention period.

Results

Among 12,387 investigational drug orders, 395 (6.1%) prescribing errors were detected in 6477 orders at the baseline period, and 278 errors (4.7%) were detected in 5,910 orders at the intervention period. To identify factors that affect prescribing errors, three models were constructed for the multivariate analysis. Among factors affecting prescribing errors, sponsor initiated trial (SIT) was the strongest factor (AOR: 4.16, 95% CI: 3.31–5.23). Pharmacist intervention reduced prescribing errors by at least 25% in all constructed models after adjusting for confounding variables. Prescribing errors were 1.3 times higher when dealing with intravenous medications than when dealing with oral medications. There were 60% fewer prescribing errors in the blinded study than in the open study. SIT and multi-center/multi-nation studies had 4.2 and 2.4 times more frequent prescribing errors than in investigator-initiated trials (IIT) and single-center/single-nation studies, respectively. Fewer errors occurred in phase 2 and trials covering both phase 1 and phase 2 (phase 1/2) than in phase 3 trials.

Conclusions

The IDS pharmacist intervention in cancer clinical trials was associated with significant reductions in prescribing errors and may lead to increased medication safety.

Utilization of neonatal medication error prevention strategies: a clinical practice survey of Australian and New Zealand neonatal units

BACKGROUND

Medication errors are common in neonatal care and can lead to significant harm. We sought to explore utilization of various medication error prevention strategies across Australian and New Zealand neonatal units (NNUs) through a clinical practice survey.

METHODS

An electronic survey was distributed in October 2016 to relevant staff at each of the 29 level III NNUs identified as members of the Australian and New Zealand Neonatal Network (ANZNN). The survey contained questions relating to a range of medication error prevention strategies identified from a previous systematic review on the topic. The evaluated interventions targeted different aspects of the medication-use process including prescribing, evaluation/checking of orders by clinical pharmacists, transmission, preparation and dispensing of orders, storage of medications, and medication administration.

RESULTS

From the 20 respondents, the evidence-based strategies most commonly utilized were use of smart pumps (n = 18; 90%), and ward-based clinical pharmacists (n = 17; 85%). Interventions least commonly utilized included barcode scanning with medication administration (n = 0; 0%), electronic prescribing and clinical decision support (n = 1; 5%), and dedicated medication administration nurse (n = 2; 10%). The total number of evidence-based medication error prevention strategies utilized in each NNU ranged from 2 to 10 (median = 7), 10 of 16 strategies were utilized by less than 50% of NNUs.

CONCLUSION

While evidence supports utilization of a number of medication error prevention strategies, these appear inconsistently utilized across current practice settings.

Incidence, causes, and consequences of preventable adverse drug reactions occurring in inpatients: A systematic review of systematic reviews

BACKGROUND

Preventable adverse drug reactions (PADRs) in inpatients are associated with harm, including increased length of stay and potential loss of life, and result in elevated costs of care. We conducted an overview of reviews (i.e., a systematic review of systematic reviews) to determine the incidence of PADRs experienced by inpatients. Secondary review objectives were related to assessment of the effects of patient age, setting, and clinical specialty on PADR incidence.

METHODS

The protocol was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42016043220). We performed a search of Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane Library, limiting languages of publication to English and French. We included published systematic reviews that reported quantitative data on the incidence of PADRs in patients receiving acute or ambulatory care in a hospital setting. The full texts of all primary studies for which PADR data were reported in the included reviews were obtained and data relevant to review objectives were extracted. Quality of the included reviews was assessed using the AMSTAR-2 tool. Both narrative summaries of findings and meta-analyses of primary study data were undertaken.

RESULTS

Thirteen systematic reviews encompassing 37 unique primary studies were included. Across primary studies, the PADR incidence was highly varied, ranging from 0.006 to 13.3 PADRs per 100 patients, with a pooled incidence estimate of 0.59 PADRs per 100 patients. Substantial heterogeneity was present across both reviews and primary studies with respect to review/study objectives, patient age, hospital setting, medical discipline, definitions and assessment tools used, event detection methods, endpoints of interest, and units of measure. Thirteen primary studies used prospective event detection methods and had a pooled PADR incidence of 3.13 (2.87-3.38) PADRs per 100 patients; however, extreme statistical heterogeneity (I2 = 97%) indicated this finding should be considered with caution. Subgroup meta-analyses demonstrated that PADR incidence varied significantly with event detection method (prospective > retrospective > voluntary reporting methods), hospital setting (ICU > wards), and medical discipline (medical > surgical). High statistical heterogeneity (I2 > 80%) was present across all analyses, indicating results should be interpreted with caution. Effects of patient age could not be assessed due to poor reporting of age groups used in primary studies.

DISCUSSION

The method of event detection appeared to significantly influence PADR incidence, with prospective methods having the highest reported PADR rate. This finding is in agreement with the background literature. High methodological and statistical heterogeneity across primary studies evaluating adverse drug events reduces the validity of the overall PADR incidence derived from the meta-analyses of the pooled data. Data pooled from studies using only prospective methods of event detection should provide an overall estimate closest to the true PADR incidence; however, our estimate should be considered with caution due to the statistical heterogeneity found in this group of studies. Future studies should employ prospective methods of detection. This review demonstrates that the true overall incidence of PADRs is likely much greater than the overall pooled incidence estimate of 0.59 PADRs per 100 patients obtained when event detection method was not taken into consideration.

Using a common data platform to facilitate audit and feedback on the quality of hospital care provided to sick newborns in Kenya

Essential interventions to reduce neonatal deaths that can be effectively delivered in hospitals have been identified. Improving information systems may support routine monitoring of the delivery of these interventions and outcomes at scale. We used cycles of audit and feedback (A&F) coupled with the use of a standardised newborn admission record (NAR) form to explore the potential for creating a common inpatient neonatal data platform and illustrate its potential for monitoring prescribing accuracy. Revised NARs were introduced in a high volume, neonatal unit in Kenya together with 13 A&F meetings over a period of 3  years from January 2014 to November 2016. Data were abstracted from medical records for 15 months before introduction of the revised NAR and A&F and during the 3 years of A&F. We calculated, for each patient, the percentage of documented items from among the total recommended for documentation and trends calculated over time. Gentamicin prescribing accuracy was also tracked over time. Records were examined for 827 and 7336 patients in the pre-A&F and post-A&F periods, respectively. Documentation scores improved overall. Documentation of gestational age improved from <15% in 2014 to >75% in 2016. For five recommended items, including temperature, documentation remained <50%. 16.7% (n=1367; 95%  CI 15.9 to 17.6) of the admitted babies had a diagnosis of neonatal sepsis needing antibiotic treatment. In this group, dosing accuracy of gentamicin improved over time for those under 2  kg from 60% (95%36.1 to 80.1) in 2013 to 83% (95% CI 69.2 to 92.3) in 2016. We report that it is possible to improve routine data collection in neonatal units using a standardised neonatal record linked to relatively basic electronic data collection tools and cycles of A&F. This can be useful in identifying potential gaps in care and tracking outcomes with an aim of improving the quality of care.

The effect of a medication reconciliation program in two intensive care units in the Netherlands: a prospective intervention study with a before and after design

Background

Medication errors occur frequently in the intensive care unit (ICU) and during care transitions. Chronic medication is often temporarily stopped at the ICU. Unfortunately, when the patient improves, the restart of this medication is easily forgotten. Moreover, temporal ICU medication is often unintentionally continued after ICU discharge. Medication reconciliation could be useful to prevent such errors. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the effect of medication reconciliation at the ICU.

Methods

This prospective 8-month study with a pre- and post-design was carried out in two ICU settings in the Netherlands. Patients were included when they used ≥ 1 chronic medicine and when the ICU stay exceeded 24 h. The intervention consisted of medication reconciliation by pharmacists at the moment of ICU admission and prior to ICU discharge. Medication transfer errors (MTEs) were collected and the severity of potential harm of these MTEs was measured, based on a potential adverse drug event score (pADE = 0; 0.01; 0.1; 0.4; 0.6). Primary outcome measures were the proportions of patients with ≥ 1 MTE at ICU admission and after discharge. Secondary outcome measures were the proportions of patients with a pADE score ≥ 0.01 due to these MTEs, the severity of the pADEs and the associated costs. Odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals were calculated, by using a multivariate logistic regression analysis.

Results

In the pre-intervention phase, 266 patients were included and 212 in the post-intervention phase. The proportion of patients with ≥ 1 MTE at ICU admission was reduced from 45.1 to 14.6% (OR_adj 0.18 [95% CI 0.11–0.30]) and after discharge from 73.9 to 41.2% (OR_adj 0.24 [95% CI 0.15–0.37]). The proportion of patients with a pADE ≥ 0.01 at ICU admission was reduced from 34.8 to 8.0% (OR_adj 0.13 [95% CI 0.07–0.24]) and after discharge from 69.5 to 36.2% (OR_adj 0.26 [95% CI 0.17–0.40]). The pADE reduction resulted in a potential net cost–benefit of € 103 per patient.

Conclusions

Medication reconciliation by pharmacists at ICU transfers is an effective safety intervention, leading to a significant decrease in the number of MTE and a cost-effective reduction in potential harm.

Trial registration Dutch trial register: NTR4159, 5 September 2013, retrospectively registered

Use of mobile devices and medication errors in acute care: a systematic review protocol

REVIEW QUESTION/OBJECTIVE

The objective of this review is to synthesize the best available evidence on the effects of healthcare providers using mobile devices at any stage of medication provision on medication errors in acute care settings. Provision of medication includes prescribing, dispensing or administrating medicine in the acute care setting.

Comparison of medication policies to guide nursing practice across seven Victorian health services

Objectives The objective of this paper is to review and compare the content of medication management policies across seven Australian health services located in the state of Victoria. Methods The medication management policies for health professionals involved in administering medications were obtained from seven health services under one jurisdiction. Analysis focused on policy content, including the health service requirements and regulations governing practice. Results and Conclusions The policies of the seven health services contained standard information about staff authorisation, controlled medications and poisons, labelling injections and infusions, patient self-administration, documentation and managing medication errors. However, policy related to individual health professional responsibilities, single- and double-checking medications, telephone orders and expected staff competencies varied across the seven health services. Some inconsistencies in health professionals' responsibilities among medication management policies were identified. What is known about the topic? Medication errors are recognised as the single most preventable cause of patient harm in hospitals and occur most frequently during administration. Medication management is a complex process involving several management and treatment decisions. Policies are developed to assist health professionals to safely manage medications and standardise practice; however, co-occurring activities and interruptions increase the risk of medication errors. What does this paper add? In the present policy analysis, we identified some variation in the content of medication management policies across seven Victorian health services. Policies varied in relation to medications that require single- and double-checking, as well as by whom, nurse-initiated medications, administration rights, telephone orders and competencies required to check medications. What are the implications for practitioners? Variation in medication management policies across organisations is highlighted and raises concerns regarding consistency in governance and practice related to medication management. Lack of practice standardisation has previously been implicated in medication errors. Lack of intrajurisdictional concordance should be addressed to increase consistency. Inconsistency in expectations between healthcare services may lead to confusion about expectations among health professionals moving from one healthcare service to another, and possibly lead to increased risk of medication errors.

Reducing medication errors in critical care patients: pharmacist key resources and relationship with medicines optimisation

BACKGROUND

Medication errors are the most common type of medical errors critical care patients experience. Critical care units utilise a variety of resources to reduce medication errors; it is unknown which resources or combinations thereof are most effective in improving medication safety.

OBJECTIVES

To obtain UK critical care pharmacist group consensus on the most important interventions/resources that reduce medication errors. To then classify units that participated in the PROTECTED UK study to investigate if there were significant differences in the reported pharmacist prescription intervention type, clinical impact and rates according to unit resource classification.

METHODS

An e-Delphi process (three rounds) obtained pharmacist consensus on which interventions/resources were most important in the reduction of medication errors in critical care patients. The 21 units involved in the PROTECTED UK study (multicentre study of UK critical care pharmacist medicines interventions), were categorised as high-, medium- and low-resource units based on routine delivery of the final Top 5 interventions/ resources. High and low units were compared according to type, clinical impact and rate of medication interventions reported during the PROTECTED UK study.

KEY FINDINGS

Consensus on the Top 5 combined medication error reduction resources was established: advanced-level clinical pharmacist embedded in critical care being ranked most important. Pharmacists working on units with high resources made significantly more clinically significant medicines optimisations compared to those on low-resourced units (OR 3.09; P = 0.035).

CONCLUSIONS

Critical care pharmacist group consensus on the most important medication error reduction resources was established. Pharmacists working on high-resourced units made more clinically significant medicines optimisations.

Strategies to Reduce Patient Harm From Infusion-Associated Medication Errors: A Scoping Review

A scoping review of the literature examined strategies to prevent infusion-associated medication errors. Twenty articles were appraised and revealed studies using different research designs and types of literature reviews. Most were rated low quality. Observations in clinical agencies and laboratory settings were sites of some investigations. The work environment-including staffing, health care providers' education and supervision, standardizing equipment, protocols that supported medication decision-making and administration processes, medication lists, computerized devices, and cognitive aids-were addressed as strategies. The array of studies points to aspects of the complexity of the administration process for infusion-associated medications.

Reliability of clinical impact grading by healthcare professionals of common prescribing error and optimisation cases in critical care patients

Objective

To identify between and within profession-rater reliability of clinical impact grading for common critical care prescribing error and optimisation cases. To identify representative clinical impact grades for each individual case.

Design

Electronic questionnaire.

Setting

5 UK NHS Trusts.

Participants

30 Critical care healthcare professionals (doctors, pharmacists and nurses).

Intervention

Participants graded severity of clinical impact (5-point categorical scale) of 50 error and 55 optimisation cases.

Main Outcome Measures

Case between and within profession-rater reliability and modal clinical impact grading.

Methods

Between and within profession rater reliability analysis used linear mixed model and intraclass correlation, respectively.

Results

The majority of error and optimisation cases (both 76%) had a modal clinical severity grade of moderate or higher. Error cases: doctors graded clinical impact significantly lower than pharmacists (-0.25; P < 0.001) and nurses (-0.53; P < 0.001), with nurses significantly higher than pharmacists (0.28; P < 0.001). Optimisation cases: doctors graded clinical impact significantly lower than nurses and pharmacists (-0.39 and -0.5; P < 0.001, respectively). Within profession reliability grading was excellent for pharmacists (0.88 and 0.89; P < 0.001) and doctors (0.79 and 0.83; P < 0.001) but only fair to good for nurses (0.43 and 0.74; P < 0.001), for optimisation and error cases, respectively.

Conclusions

Representative clinical impact grades for over 100 common prescribing error and optimisation cases are reported for potential clinical practice and research application. The between professional variability highlights the importance of multidisciplinary perspectives in assessment of medication error and optimisation cases in clinical practice and research.

A multifaceted intervention to reduce guideline non-adherence among prescribing physicians in Dutch hospitals

Background Despite the potential of clinical practice guidelines to improve patient outcomes, adherence to guidelines by prescribers is inconsistent. Objective The aim of the study was to determine whether an approach of introducing an educational programme for prescribers in the hospital combined with audit and feedback by the hospital pharmacist reduces non-adherence of prescribing physicians to key pharmacotherapeutic guidelines. Setting This prospective intervention study with a before–after design evaluated patients at surgical, urological and orthopaedic wards. Method An educational program covering pain management, antithrombotics, fluid and electrolyte management, prescribing in case of renal insufficiency, application of radiographic contrast agents and surgical antibiotic prophylaxis was presented to prescribers on the participating wards. Hospital pharmacists performed medication safety consultations, combining medication review of patients who are at risk for drug related problems with visits to ward physicians. Main outcome measure The outcome measure was the proportion of the admissions of patients in which the physician did not adhere to one or more of the included guidelines. Difference was expressed in odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed. Results 1435 Admissions of 1378 patients during the usual care period and 1195 admissions of 1090 patients during the intervention period were included. Non-adherence was observed significantly less often during the intervention period [21.8% (193/886)] as compared to the usual care period [30.5% (332/1089)]. The adjusted OR was 0.61 (95% CI 0.49–0.76). Conclusion This study shows that education and support of the prescribing physician can reduce guideline non-adherence at surgical wards.

Knowledge, behaviours, training and attitudes of nurses during preparation and administration of intravenous medications in intensive care units (ICU). A multicenter Italian study

BACKGROUND

Medication errors can put at risk the life of patients hospitalized in the ICUs. These errors occur more frequently in the ICUs due to their peculiar medical framework. There is not much information about the knowledge, attitudes, behaviours and training needs of the nurses who work in ICUs towards the medication errors.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims at describing the knowledge, attitudes, behaviours and training needs of the Italian nurses who work in ICUs towards the use of IV drugs, and identifying the strategies that nurses can adopt to prevent the occurrence of medication errors.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Cross-sectional study. The survey was carried out through a self-administrated questionnaire and it was addressed to 529 Italian nurses who work in the ICUs of Southern, Centre and Northern Italy hospitals (average age of the sample 39.9, SD=9.1, 68.1% females). The questionnaire, made of 36 items divided into 7 sections, was validated after the results of the pilot study.

RESULTS

The study highlighted the importance of the role, behaviours and knowledge of the nurses to prevent the medication errors. The results of the multivariate analysis of the multicentre study show a relation among correct behaviours and positive attitudes, even if it is not statistically significant. Worth mentioning is the fact that the achievement of a university degree affects negatively the correct behaviours (OR 0.56, 95% CI 0.34-0.95), as well as the years of work (OR 0.97, 95% CI 0.94-0.99).

CONCLUSIONS

The results of this multicentre study are encouraging. Nurses who have a good command of the English language (sufficient, good, and excellent) dedicate more than an hour per week to the bibliography update. Extending and deepening the knowledge of the nurses in a cyclical way might be an effective strategy to keep a high level of security of the drugs in the ICUs. The study highlighted that almost all the surveyed nurses (93%) are aware that an adequate knowledge of the drugs dosage calculation is essential to reduce the occurrence of medication errors in the drugs preparation phase.

The effect of the TIM program (Transfer ICU Medication reconciliation) on medication transfer errors in two Dutch intensive care units: design of a prospective 8-month observational study with a before and after period

BACKGROUND

The transfer of patients to and from the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is prone to medication errors. The aim of the present study is to determine whether the number of medication errors at ICU admission and discharge and the associated potential harm and costs are reduced by using the Transfer ICU and Medication reconciliation (TIM) program.

METHODS

This prospective 8-month observational study with a pre- and post-design will assess the effects of the TIM program compared with usual care in two Dutch hospitals. Patients will be included if they are using at least one drug before hospital admission and will stay in the ICU for at least 24 h. They are excluded if they are transferred to another hospital, admitted and discharged in the same weekend or unable to communicate in Dutch or English. In the TIM program, a clinical pharmacist reconciles patient's medication history within 24 h after ICU admission, resulting in a "best possible" medication history and presents it to the ICU doctor. At ICU discharge the clinical pharmacist reconciles the prescribed ICU medication and the medication history with the ICU doctor, resulting in an ICU discharge medication list with medication prescription recommendations for the general ward doctor. Primary outcome measures are the proportions of patients with one or more medication transfer errors 24 h after ICU admission and 24 h after ICU discharge. Secondary outcome measures are the proportion of patients with potential adverse drug events, the severity of potential adverse drug events and the associated costs. For the primary outcome relative risks and 95% confidence intervals will be calculated.

DISCUSSION

Strengths of this study are the tailor-made design of the TIM program and two participating hospitals. This study also has some limitations: A potential selection bias since this program is not performed during the weekends, collecting of potential rather than actual adverse drug events and finally a relatively short study period. Nevertheless, the findings of this study will provide valuable information on a crucial safety intervention in the ICU.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

Dutch trial register: NTR4159 , 5 September 2013.

The effect of prescriber education on medication-related patient harm in the hospital: a systematic review

AIMS

Educating prescribers is a strategy to reduce prescription errors in hospitals. The present systematic review gives an overview of original research papers on the education of prescribers and reporting outcomes on (potential) patient harm.

METHODS

A search of the databases Embase and Medline, using the Ovid interface, was performed. Research on the effect of physician education in order to prevent medication-related problems in inpatients, and on reporting original data and outcomes on prescribing errors and/or (potential) patient harm, was included. The assessment of methodological quality and risk of bias was performed using the Methodological Index for Non-Randomized studies (MINORS) checklist and the suggested risk of bias criteria for Effective Practice and Organization of Care (EPOC) reviews.

RESULTS

Eight studies investigated an intervention on education alone, and in seven studies education was the main part of a multifaceted intervention. All studies were small and had short follow-up periods. The educational programmes varied and were given to physicians of different specialties and levels of experience. Most studies reported intermediate process parameters as the outcome. The risk of performance and reporting bias were high.

CONCLUSION

All included studies suffered from poor methodology. The majority, especially studies in which education was part of a multifaceted intervention, reported effectiveness on intermediate outcome markers as prescription errors and potential adverse drug events. However, we found no firm evidence that educating prescribers in the hospital leads to a decrease in patient harm. Further work is needed to develop educational programmes, accompanied by more high-quality research with outcomes on the improvement of patient care.

Methods to Reduce Medication Errors in a Clinical Trial of an Investigational Parenteral Medication

There are few evidence-based guidelines to inform optimal design of complex clinical trials, such as those assessing the safety and efficacy of intravenous drugs administered daily with infusion times over many hours per day and treatment durations that may span years. This study is a retrospective review of inpatient administration deviation reports for an investigational drug that is administered daily with infusion times of 8-24 hours, and variable treatment durations for each patient. We report study design modifications made in 2007-2008 aimed at minimizing deviations from an investigational drug infusion protocol approved by an institutional review board and the United States Food and Drug Administration. Modifications were specifically aimed at minimizing errors of infusion rate, incorrect dose, incorrect patient, or wrong drug administered. We found that the rate of these types of administration errors of the study drug was significantly decreased following adoption of the specific study design changes. This report provides guidance in the design of clinical trials testing the safety and efficacy of study drugs administered via intravenous infusion in an inpatient setting so as to minimize drug administration protocol deviations and optimize patient safety.

The Effects of Clinical Decision Support Systems on Medication Safety: An Overview

BACKGROUND

The clinical decision support system(CDSS) has potential to improving medication safety. However, the effects of the intervention were conflicting and uncertain. Meanwhile, the reporting and methodological quality of this field were unknown.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this overview is to evaluate the effects of CDSS on medication safety and to examine the methodological and reporting quality.

METHODS

PubMed, Embase and Cochrane Library were searched to August 2015. Systematic reviews (SRs) investigating the effects of CDSS on medication safety were included. Outcomes were determined in advance and assessed separately for process of care and patient outcomes. The methodological quality was assessed by Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) and the reporting quality was examined by Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA).

RESULTS

Twenty systematic reviews, consisting of 237 unique randomized controlled trials(RCTs) and 176 non-RCTs were included. Evidence that CDSS significantly impacted process of care was found in 108 out of 143 unique studies of the 16 SRs examining this effect (75%). Only 18 out of 90 unique studies of the 13 SRs reported significantly evidence that CDSS positively impacted patient outcomes (20%). Ratings for the overall scores of AMSTAR resulted in a mean score of 8.3 with a range of scores from 7.5 to 10.5. The reporting quality was varied. Some contents were particularly strong. However, some contents were poor.

CONCLUSIONS

CDSS reduces medication error by obviously improving process of care and inconsistently improving patient outcomes. Larger samples and longer-term studies are required to ensure more reliable evidence base on the effects of CDSS on patient outcomes. The methodological and reporting quality were varied and some realms need to be improved.

A multifaceted intervention to reduce drug-related complications in surgical patients

AIM

The P-REVIEW study was a prospective, multicenter, open intervention study, designed to determine whether a multifaceted intervention of educating the prescriber combined with medication review and pharmaceutical visits to the ward by the hospital pharmacist could lead to a reduction in drug-related complications among surgical patients.

METHODS

A total of 6780 admissions of 5940 patients to surgical, urological and orthopaedic wards during the usual care period and 6484 admissions of 5711 patients during the intervention period were included. An educational programme covering pain management, antithrombotics, fluid and electrolyte management, prescription in case of renal insufficiency and antibiotics was developed. National and local hospital guidelines were included. Hospital pharmacists performed medication safety consultations, combining medication review of high-risk patients and a visit to the physician on the ward.

RESULTS

A significantly lower proportion of admissions with one or more clinically relevant, potentially preventable, drug-related problems (including death, temporary or sustained disability, increased length of hospital stay or readmission within 30 days) occurred in the intervention period (1.1% (73/6484) compared to the usual care period [1.6% (106/6780)] (P = 0.029). The relative risk (RR) was 0.72 (95% CI 0.53-0.97). Several types of drug-related problems occurred less frequently. Costs incurred as result of time spent on study-related activities were not different before and after the intervention.

CONCLUSIONS

The P-REVIEW study shows that education and support of the prescribing physician with respect to high-risk patients in surgical departments leads to a significant, clinically relevant benefit for patients without generating additional costs.

PROTECTED-UK - Clinical pharmacist interventions in the UK critical care unit: exploration of relationship between intervention, service characteristics and experience level

PURPOSE

Clinical pharmacist (CP) interventions from the PROTECTED-UK cohort, a multi-site critical care interventions study, were further analysed to assess effects of: time on critical care, number of interventions, CP expertise and days of week, on impact of intervention and ultimately contribution to patient care.

METHODS

Intervention data were collected from 21 adult critical care units over 14 days. Interventions could be error, optimisation or consults, and were blind-coded to ensure consistency, prior to bivariate analysis. Pharmacy service demographics were further collated by investigator survey.

KEY FINDINGS

Of the 20 758 prescriptions reviewed, 3375 interventions were made (intervention rate 16.1%). CPs spent 3.5 h per day (mean, ±SD 1.7) on direct patient care, reviewed 10.3 patients per day (±SD 4.2) and required 22.5 min (±SD 9.5) per review. Intervention rate had a moderate inverse correlation with the time the pharmacist spent on critical care (P = 0.05; r = 0.4). Optimisation rate had a strong inverse association with total number of prescriptions reviewed per day (P = 0.001; r = 0.7). A consultant CP had a moderate inverse correlation with number of errors identified (P = 0.008; r = 0.6). No correlation existed between the presence of electronic prescribing in critical care and any intervention rate. Few centres provided weekend services, although the intervention rate was significantly higher on weekends than weekdays.

CONCLUSIONS

A CP is essential for safe and optimised patient medication therapy; an extended and developed pharmacy service is expected to reduce errors. CP services should be adequately staffed to enable adequate time for prescription review and maximal therapy optimisation.

Evidence-based interventions to reduce adverse events in hospitals: a systematic review of systematic reviews

OBJECTIVE

To provide an overview of effective interventions aimed at reducing rates of adverse events in hospitals.

DESIGN

Systematic review of systematic reviews.

DATA SOURCES

PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, the Cochrane Library and EMBASE were searched for systematic reviews published until October 2015.

STUDY SELECTION

English-language systematic reviews of interventions aimed at reducing adverse events in hospitals, including studies with an experimental design and reporting adverse event rates, were included. Two reviewers independently assessed each study's quality and extracted data on the study population, study design, intervention characteristics and adverse patient outcomes.

RESULTS

Sixty systematic reviews with moderate to high quality were included. Statistically significant pooled effect sizes were found for 14 types of interventions, including: (1) multicomponent interventions to prevent delirium; (2) rapid response teams to reduce cardiopulmonary arrest and mortality rates; (3) pharmacist interventions to reduce adverse drug events; (4) exercises and multicomponent interventions to prevent falls; and (5) care bundle interventions, checklists and reminders to reduce infections. Most (82%) of the significant effect sizes were based on 5 or fewer primary studies with an experimental study design.

CONCLUSIONS

The evidence for patient-safety interventions implemented in hospitals worldwide is weak. The findings address the need to invest in high-quality research standards in order to identify interventions that have a real impact on patient safety. Interventions to prevent delirium, cardiopulmonary arrest and mortality, adverse drug events, infections and falls are most effective and should therefore be prioritised by clinicians.

The pharmacotherapy of cirrhosis: concerns and proposed investigations and solutions

WHAT IS KNOWN AND OBJECTIVE

The presence of cirrhosis has a multifaceted impact on hepatic drug metabolism. An area of concern and uncertainty in the care of patients with cirrhosis is the safe use of both prescription and over-the-counter medications.

COMMENT

Retrospective studies indicate a high incidence of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) among patients with cirrhosis related to use of certain medication classes including angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Conversely, use of appropriate medications, such as statins, may be decreased in this population due to fear of precipitating hepatotoxicity.

WHAT IS NEW AND CONCLUSION

Pharmacotherapy in cirrhosis is an area of uncertainty and heterogeneity in clinical practice. Prescribing and dosing guidelines are needed to decrease the risk of serious ADRs in this high-risk patient population.

The effectiveness of interventions designed to reduce medication administration errors: a synthesis of findings from systematic reviews

AIM

The aim of this overview was to examine the effectiveness of interventions designed to improve patient safety by reducing medication administration errors using data from systematic reviews.

BACKGROUND

Medication administration errors remain unacceptably high despite the introduction of a range of interventions aimed at enhancing patient safety. Systematic reviews of strategies designed to improve medication safety report contradictory findings. A critical appraisal and synthesis of these findings are, therefore, warranted.

METHODS

A comprehensive three-step search strategy was employed to search across 10 electronic databases. Two reviewers independently examined the methodological rigour and scientific quality of included systematic reviews using the Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews protocol.

RESULTS

Sixteen systematic reviews were eligible for inclusion. Evidence suggest that multifaceted approaches involving a combination education and risk management strategies and the use of bar code technology are effective in reducing medication errors.

CONCLUSION

More research is needed to determine the benefits of routine double-checking of medications during administration by nurses, outcomes of self-administration of medications by capable patients, and associations between interruptions and medications errors.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT

Medication-related incidents must be captured in a way that facilitates meaningful categorisation including contributing factors, potential and actual/risk of harm and contextual information on the incident.