Towards meaningful medication-related clinical decision support: recommendations for an initial implementation.

SUMMARY: Clinical decision support (CDS) can improve safety, quality, and cost-effectiveness of patient care, especially when implemented in computerized provider order entry (CPOE) applications. Medication-related decision support logic forms a large component of the CDS logic in any CPOE system. However, organizations wishing to implement CDS must either purchase the computable clinical content or develop it themselves. Content provided by vendors does not always meet local expectations. Most organizations lack the resources to customize the clinical content and the expertise to implement it effectively. In this paper, we describe the recommendations of a national expert panel on two basic medication-related CDS areas, specifically, drug-drug interaction (DDI) checking and duplicate therapy checking. The goals of this study were to define a starter set of medication-related alerts that healthcare organizations can implement in their clinical information systems. We also draw on the experiences of diverse institutions to highlight the realities of implementing medication decision support. These findings represent the experiences of institutions with a long history in the domain of medication decision support, and the hope is that this guidance may improve the feasibility and efficiency CDS adoption across healthcare settings.

Enhancing medication use safety: benefits of learning from your peers.

BACKGROUND: Maryland hospitals have been improving the safety of medication use practices since 2000. A retrospective analysis of 35 hospitals was conducted for 2005-2007 to determine the changes in medication use practices, communication methods within hospitals, patient education and changes in medical record management. METHODS: Thirty-five Maryland hospitals completed the Institute for Safe Medication Practices Medication Safety Self-Assessment for Hospitals, a voluntary initiative to improve the safety of medication use. A weighting structure is applied to calculate key element scores, core characteristic scores and overall self-assessment scores that were used in ANOVA and regression analyses. FINDINGS: The state-wide aggregate score significantly increased from 74.2% in 2005 to 81.2% in 2007 (p<0.05). The 35 hospitals scored highest in the following key areas in 2007: drug standardisation, storage and distribution (90.2%); drug labelling, packaging and nomenclature (88.1%); and environmental factors (84.3%). Results indicated that hospitals scored lowest in the key element area related to accessibility of patient information (72.5%) and in the core characteristics pertaining to redundancies and independent double checks (64.2%) in 2007. A substantial number of hospitals had positive and significant (p<0.05) changes in certain key elements and/or core characteristics. Few hospitals showed significant (p<0.05) decreases in their scores. CONCLUSION: MEDSAFE has directly assisted Maryland hospitals in improving medication use safety. The strategies and tools of MEDSAFE have been used in Maryland since 2000 and Singapore and Austria since 2006.

Use of an ambulatory infusion pump in a 12-year-old with Salmonella osteomyelitis.

A 12-year-old girl with sickle cell hemoglobinopathy presented with a Salmonella osteomyelitis of her right humerus requiring six weeks of parenteral antibiotic therapy. Home therapy was evaluated. Due to the frequency of the medication administration (every six hours) and the apprehension of the family members, a Pharmacia-Deltec CADD-VT Infusion Pump was chosen for drug administration. Based on the stability of ampicillin, 1.3 g q6h was administered to provide a minimum of 1 g for the last dose of a 24-hour cycle. Ampicillin 6 g contained in 100 mL of sterile water for injection provided a 60 mg/mL solution with an osmolarity of 347 mOsmol. The pump was programmed to deliver 22 mL of solution over one hour, every six hours. A keep-vein-open rate of 0.2 mL/h maintained line patency. A 100 mL cassette of solution prepared daily was replaced on the pump by a home therapy nurse each morning. At the end of six weeks of therapy, the osteomyelitis was eradicated. We found the use of an ambulatory infusion pump an effective, convenient, and cost-saving method of treatment for our patient.

Implementation of standardized forms to increase pharmacist/physician communication.

This article reports on the development and use of carbonized, standard communication forms by pharmacists in a 150-bed osteopathic teaching institution. The use of these communication forms has resulted in increased physician awareness of the clinical services offered by pharmacy and standardized responses to recurring drug therapy recommendations. Communication between physicians and pharmacists has been expanded, and a cost savings in drug therapy has resulted.