@article{5174, keywords = {clinical, decision Support Systems, electronic prescribing, medical order entry systems, medication errors, medication therapy management}, author = {Jamie J. Coleman and James Hodson and Hannah L. Brooks and David Rosser}, title = {Missed medication doses in hospitalised patients: a descriptive account of quality improvement measures and time series analysis.}, abstract = {

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the changes in overdue doses rates over a 4-year period in an National Health Service (NHS) teaching hospital, following the implementation of interventions associated with an electronic prescribing system used within the hospital.

DESIGN: Retrospective time-series analysis of weekly dose administration data.

SETTING: University teaching hospital using a locally developed electronic prescribing and administration system (Prescribing, Information and Communication System or PICS) with an audit database containing details on every drug prescription and dose administration.

PARTICIPANTS: Prescription data extracted from the PICS database.

INTERVENTION(S): Four interventions were implemented in the Trust: (i) the ability for doctors to pause medication doses; (ii) clinical dashboards; (iii) visual indicators for overdue doses and (iv) overdue doses Root Cause

ANALYSIS: (RCA) meetings and a National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) Rapid Response Alert. Main outcome measure(s) The percentage of missed medication doses.

RESULTS: Rates of both missed antibiotic and non-antibiotic doses decreased significantly upon the introduction of clinical dashboards (reductions of 0.60 and 0.41 percentage points, respectively), as well as following the instigation of executive-led overdue doses RCA meetings (reductions of 0.83 and 0.97 percentage points, respectively) and the publication of an associated NPSA Rapid Response Alert. Implementing a visual indicator for overdue doses was not associated with significant decreases in the rates of missed antibiotic or non-antibiotic doses.

CONCLUSIONS: Electronic prescribing systems can facilitate data collection relating to missed medication doses.

INTERVENTIONS: providing hospital staff with information about overdue doses at a ward level can help promote reductions in overdue doses rates.

}, year = {2013}, journal = {Int J Qual Health Care}, volume = {25}, pages = {564-72}, month = {10/2013}, issn = {1464-3677}, doi = {10.1093/intqhc/mzt044}, language = {eng}, }