The efficacy of a medication review programme conducted in an emergency department.

Background Older age and inappropriate prescribing is related to a greater rate of emergency department visits and hospitalisations. Objective To assess the efficacy of an interprofessional collaboration programme in which a review of the medication of older patients seen in the emergency observation unit was carried out. Setting Emergency departments at four Spanish hospitals. Method Randomised, controlled study. Patients over 65 years of age presenting to the emergency department were randomised to a control or an intervention group. In the intervention group, a pharmacist reviewed the patients' chronic medication and identified any potentially inappropriate prescriptions based on the STOPP/START criteria. Each case was discussed with the emergency specialist and a recommendation to modify the treatment was sent to the general practitioner. Main outcome measure Rate of emergency visits and hospital admissions. Results The adjusted rate ratio of emergency visits and hospital admissions was 0.808 (95% CI 0.617 to 1.059) at 3 months, 0.888 (95% CI 0.696 to 1.134) at 6 months and 0.954 (95% CI 0.772 to 1.179) at 12 months. There was a statistically significant reduction at 3 months in two of the hospitals that participated in the study [adjusted rate ratio at 3 months was 0.452 (95% CI 0.222 to 0.923) in hospital 3 and 0.567 (95% CI 0.328 to 0.983) in hospital 4]. Conclusion Overall, the intervention did not reduce the number of emergency visits and hospital admissions. However, a significant effect was observed in centres were a high acceptance rate of treatment recommendations was achieved.

Adecuación de los botiquines de antídotos de los servicios de farmacia en hospitales públicos de la comunidad autónoma de Les Illes Balears / Adequacy of poisoning antidote stocks in the pharmacies of public health service hospitals in the Spanish autonomous community of the Balearic Islands

Objetivo: Analizar la adecuación del botiquín de antídotos en los servicios de farmacia de los hospitales de la red pública de la comunidad autónoma de Les Illes Balears. Método: Estudio descriptivo y transversal que revisa la composición del botiquín de antídotos y otros fármacos para el tratamiento de intoxicaciones agudas disponible en los servicios de farmacia de los diversos hospitales públicos de la Comunidad Autónoma, mediante cumplimentación de un formulario específico por un responsable de cada centro. Los resultados obtenidos se compararon con las recomendaciones CALITOX-2006 y las recomendaciones Antidote Stocking Guidelines (ASG-2009), se analizó la disponibilidad, cantidad y ubicación. Resultados: En los 7 hospitales, la disponibilidad supera el 85% según CALITOX y el68% según ASG. Las carencias principales fueron el sulfato sódico, la apomorfina, la cianida kit oral y el suero anticrotálide. La adecuación cuantitativa media es del 83%, y lapiridoxina es el que más veces está infradotado. Hay un exceso de carbón activado y de N-acetilcisteína. Se detectó una infradotación de glucagón y de fomepizol en el hospital de referencia. Los criterios de ubicación en el servicio de urgencias se siguieron en más del 80% (hospital de nivel I), 68% (hospital de nivel II) y 94% (hospital de referencia).Conclusiones: El grado de cumplimiento de las recomendaciones consultadas en cuanto a composición, accesibilidad y dotación del botiquín de antídotos y otros fármacos para el tratamiento de intoxicaciones agudas en los hospitales públicos de Les Illes Balears es alto, con una distribución en cada una de las islas segura para garantizar su disponibilidad. La situación geográfica del hospital y su proximidad al centro de referencia más dotado de antídotos predominan sobre el grado de complejidad del hospital en los de nivel 2

Objective: To analyze whether pharmacies in public health service hospitals in the Spanish autonomous community of the Balearic Islands are stocking sufficient amounts of poison antidotes. Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study of public hospital pharmacy stocks of antidotes and other medicines for treating acute poisoning. The head of each hospital pharmacy completed a questionnaire about stocks. The results on which antidotes were in stock, the amounts, and the storage locations were assessed for compliance with recommended quality indicators for emergency care in acute poisonings (CALITOX-2006) and the Antidote Stocking Guidelines (ASG-2009).Results: The 7 hospitals met the CALITOX-2006 availability criteria for over 85% of items and the ASG-2009 criteria for68%. Inadequate stocking mainly involved sodium sulfate, apomorphine, oral cyanide antidote kits, and crotaline snake antivenom. An average of 83% of the stocks were adequate; pyridoxine was the substance most often found to be understocked. Activated charcoal and N-acetylcysteine were the items most often overstocked. Glucagon and fomepizole were understocked in the referral hospital. Over 80% of items were stored in appropriate ocations in the emergency departments of level 1 hospitals (68% in level 2 hospitals; 94% in the referral hospital). Conclusions: Public health system hospitals are highly compliant with recommendations on stocking antidotes and other medicines to treat acute poisoning (what to stock, where, and in what amounts); the distribution of stocks safely guarantees they will be available when needed. Among level 2 hospitals, a facility's location (proximity to the best-equipped referral hospital for poisonings) had greater influence on compliance than the hospital's level of complexity

Atención farmacéutica especializada en los servicios de urgencias hospitalarios / Pharmaceutical care in hospital emergency department

No disponible

Conciliación de los medicamentos en los servicios de urgencias / Medication reconciliation in emergency departments

Los errores de medicación (EM) son comunes en el ámbito hospitalario y conducen aun incremento de la morbilidad y mortalidad y de los costes económicos. Estos errores ocurren sobre todo durante la transición de pacientes entre los diferentes niveles asistenciales. La posibilidad de que se produzcan estos errores se ve aumentada en los servicios de urgencias (SU) por la naturaleza de éstos. Desde instituciones sanitarias a nivel mundial, se reconoce la conciliación de la medicación (CM) como la solución a esta problemática. Se define como el proceso que consiste en obtener un listado completo y exacto de la medicación previa del paciente y compararlo con la prescripción médica después de la transición asistencial. Si se encuentran discrepancias deben considerarse y, si es necesario, modificar la prescripción médica para finalmente comunicar al siguiente responsable en salud del paciente y al propio paciente, la nueva lista conciliada. Este documento de consenso ofrece una serie de recomendaciones generales para la conciliación de los medicamentos. Incluye para cada subgrupo una serie de recomendaciones específicas de tipo farmacológico, que permiten un abordaje personalizado del tratamiento del paciente que acude a urgencias en base a las características clínicas individuales. Existirán casos en los que se desestime las recomendaciones aquí descritas, ya que la relación riesgo/beneficio requerirá una valoración individualizada. Esta valoración individualizada para el paciente se llevará a cabo por el equipo multidisciplinar responsable de su asistencia sanitaria (AU)

Medication errors, which are common in hospitals, lead to higher morbidity, mortality, and expenditure. Errors are most common when patients are transferred from one level of care to another, and the likelihood of mistakes is higher in emergency departments because of the intrinsic nature of emergency care. The internationally recognized remedy for this situation is medication reconciliation, defined as the process of obtaining a complete, accurate list of the patient's prior medications and comparing it to the list of medicines prescribed after admission to a new level of care. Discrepancies should be considered and prescriptions changed if necessary. Both the person who will be responsible for the next phase of care and the patient should be informed of the new list of medications. This consensus statement offers a set of general recommendations for medication reconciliation. Specific recommendations for each subgroup of medications are also included to allow emergency department prescribing to be tailored to individual patient characteristics. The recommendations in this statement should be overridden in some cases if the risk-benefit ratio suggests that further individualization is required. Individualized assessment of medications should be carried out by a multidisciplinary team responsible for the patient’s care (AU)

Caracterización y variabilidad de los informes de evaluación de medicamentos en la página web del grupo GENESIS de la SEFH / Classification and variability of drug assessment reports on the GENESIS group (SEFH) webpage

Objetivo Analizar los informes de evaluación publicados en la página de Internet del Grupo de Evaluación de Novedades, Estandarización e Investigación en Selección de Medicamentos (GENESIS) y la variabilidad de sus propuestas sobre incorporación de medicamentos en la Guía Farmacoterapéutica. Métodos Se analizaron los informes publicados por hospitales en la página web de GENESIS y elaborados de 2004 a 2007. Se recogió el medicamento e indicación, el grupo terapéutico, la publicación en abierto o con clave, el hospital y la fecha de realización. Se elaboró un cuestionario que medía la inclusión en el informe de los 9 apartados recomendados por GENESIS. De aquellos medicamentos con 2 o más informes se analizó si coincidían en la recomendación y la posible causa de discordancia. Resultados Se analizaron 416 informes correspondientes a 185 medicamentos-indicaciones diferentes. El 93% incluían 6 o más de los apartados recomendados, número que incrementó con el tiempo. Se incluían con más frecuencia (porcentajes de 2007) las indicaciones aprobadas (92%), el mecanismo de acción (95%) o la bibliografía (86%). Apartados cumplimentados en un porcentaje creciente aunque más bajo son características diferenciales (60%), método de búsqueda bibliográfica (40%) o conclusiones con resumen de eficacia, seguridad y coste (52%); un 73% tenían recomendaciones concretas. En 42 de los 67 medicamentos con más de un informe con recomendación, ésta coincidía. Conclusiones La actividad del grupo GENESIS ha contribuido a que los hospitales españoles compartan sus informes de evaluación de medicamentos y a que éstos sean más completos aunque existen aspectos mejorables (AU)

Objective To analyse the assessment reports published on the GENESIS webpage (Group for Innovation, Assessment, Standardisation and Research in the Selection of Drugs) and assess the variability of the group's proposals to include drugs in the Formulary. Method We analysed reports published by hospitals on the GENESIS webpage between 2004 and 2007. Data were collected on drugs and indications, ATC group, open or restricted access publications, hospital, and publication date. We drafted a questionnaire that would measure to what extent to what extent the 9-section model recomended by GENESIS was included in each report. For drugs with two or more reports, we analysed whether the recommendation coincided and the possible cause in the event of conflict. Results We analysed 416 reports corresponding to 185 different drug indications. 93% included 6 or more of the recommended sections, a number which increased over time. The most frequently included sections were: approved indications (92%), mechanism of action (95%), and references (86%) (percentages from 2007). Sections which had an increasing but lower percentage were: differential characteristics (60%), literature search method (40%) and conclusions with a summary of efficacy, safety and cost data (52%). 73% of which had definite recommendations, which coincided for 42 out of the 67 drugs with more than one recommendation report. Conclusions The work carried out by the GENESIS group has enabled Spanish hospitals to share their drug assessment reports and making them more complete, although there are still some aspects that can be improved(AU)

[Classification and variability of drug assessment reports on the GENESIS group (SEFH) webpage]. / Caracterización y variabilidad de los informes de evaluación de medicamentos en la página web del grupo GENESIS de la SEFH.

OBJECTIVE: To analyse the assessment reports published on the GENESIS webpage (Group for Innovation, Assessment, Standardisation and Research in the Selection of Drugs) and assess the variability of the group's proposals to include drugs in the Formulary. METHOD: We analysed reports published by hospitals on the GENESIS webpage between 2004 and 2007. Data were collected on drugs and indications, ATC group, open or restricted access publications, hospital, and publication date. We drafted a questionnaire that would measure to what extent to what extent the 9-section model recommended by GENESIS was included in each report. For drugs with two or more reports, we analysed whether the recommendation coincided and the possible cause in the event of conflict. RESULTS: We analysed 416 reports corresponding to 185 different drug indications. 93% included 6 or more of the recommended sections, a number which increased over time. The most frequently included sections were: approved indications (92%), mechanism of action (95%), and references (86%) (percentages from 2007). Sections which had an increasing but lower percentage were: differential characteristics (60%), literature search method (40%) and conclusions with a summary of efficacy, safety and cost data (52%). 73% of which had definite recommendations, which coincided for 42 out of the 67 drugs with more than one recommendation report. CONCLUSIONS: The work carried out by the GENESIS group has enabled Spanish hospitals to share their drug assessment reports and making them more complete, although there are still some aspects that can be improved.

[Error detection in the administration of antiretroviral therapy to out-patients]. / Detección de errores en la administración del tratamiento antirretroviral en pacientes externos.

OBJECTIVE: To describe medication errors in the administration of antiretroviral drugs in HIV patients involved in a pharmaceutical care program. METHODS: A retrospective review has been carried out on pharmaceutical care records for HIV patients who picked up medication at the Hospital Pharmacy Service between July 1999 and April 2002. Medication errors, median time to error detection and percentage of patients with written information supplied were measured. Medication errors were classified according to the terminology and the taxonomy of the Spanish Ruiz-Jarabo Group 2002. RESULTS: 513 patients' pharmaceutical care records were analysed (68% of total HIV outpatients). Forty medication errors were recorded (0.27 errors/100 patients dispensed per month). The median time to error detection was 35.5 days. Written information was supplied in 63% of the cases. Errors reached patients but did not cause any damage in most cases. Incorrect doses was the most frequent type of error detected, followed by food and drug interaction. CONCLUSIONS: Pharmaceutical care programs allow us to detect drug administration errors. The frequency of monitoring visits may influence time to error detection.