Ensuring Advanced Practice Nursing Students Meet the 2023 Drug Enforcement Agency Requirements.

BACKGROUND: All advanced practice nursing students in the doctor of nursing practice program at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing are required to complete 3 core courses (pathophysiology, pharmacology, and physical assessment). As of June 2023, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) required all prescribers of controlled medications to attest to at least 8 hours of substance use training. PURPOSE: To quantify the amount of time advanced practice nursing students learn substance use-related content and engage in teaching/learning activities across the 3 courses as a basis for meeting the DEA requirement. METHODS: Lead course faculty teaching identified content related to substance use disorders, including reading assignments and skill-building activities, and the minimum amount of time that students spend in those teaching/learning experiences. RESULTS: Advanced practice nursing students complete a total of 14 hours of substance use-related content in the 3 core courses. CONCLUSIONS: This article describes substance use-related content and strategies that can be integrated in advanced practice nursing programs for students to meet the new DEA requirement.

Understanding the Information Needs of Pharmacy Staff Using CancelRx: A Qualitative Study of the Use of Prescription E-cancellation.

Background: Although electronic prescription cancellation such as via CancelRx can facilitate critical communication between prescribers and pharmacy staff about discontinued medications, there is little work that explores whether CancelRx meets the needs of pharmacy staff users. Objective: This study leverages qualitative interviews with pharmacy staff to address the following question: When medication changes are made by a prescriber using CancelRx, what information is needed by pharmacy staff to make correct and effective decisions in their roles in medication management? Methods: We conducted an inductive thematic analysis of interviews with 11 pharmacy staff members (pharmacists and pharmacy technicians) across three outpatient community pharmacy sites within an academic health care system. Results: Three information needs themes were consistently identified by both pharmacists and pharmacy technicians: prescriber intent when initiating the CancelRx, clinical rationale for the medication change, and intended medication regimen. Notably, both pharmacists and pharmacy technicians often reported seeking multiple information needs not fully addressed by CancelRx in the electronic health record (EHR) to achieve the shared goals of correct dispensing of medications and supporting patient self-management. Conclusions: Our qualitative analysis reveals that outpatient community pharmacy staff in an academic health care system often seek additional information from the (EHR) following medication changes communicated by CancelRx to meet their information needs. Ideally, the prescriber would provide sufficient information through CancelRx to automatically identify all discontinued prescriptions. These limitations highlight the need for design features that support routine communication of needed information at the time of a medication change, such as structured data elements.

Shared Decision-Making in Cardiovascular Risk Factor Management: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Importance: The effect of shared decision-making (SDM) and the extent of its use in interventions to improve cardiovascular risk remain unclear. Objective: To assess the extent to which SDM is used in interventions aimed to enhance the management of cardiovascular risk factors and to explore the association of SDM with decisional outcomes, cardiovascular risk factors, and health behaviors. Data Sources: For this systematic review and meta-analysis, a literature search was conducted in the Medline, CINAHL, Embase, Cochrane, Web of Science, Scopus, and ClinicalTrials.gov databases for articles published from inception to June 24, 2022, without language restrictions. Study Selection: Randomized clinical trials (RCTs) comparing SDM-based interventions with standard of care for cardiovascular risk factor management were included. Data Extraction and Synthesis: The systematic search resulted in 9365 references. Duplicates were removed, and 2 independent reviewers screened the trials (title, abstract, and full text) and extracted data. Data were pooled using a random-effects model. The review was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) reporting guideline. Main Outcomes and Measures: Decisional outcomes, cardiovascular risk factor outcomes, and health behavioral outcomes. Results: This review included 57 RCTs with 88 578 patients and 1341 clinicians. A total of 59 articles were included, as 2 RCTs were reported twice. Nearly half of the studies (29 [49.2%]) tested interventions that targeted both patients and clinicians, and an equal number (29 [49.2%]) exclusively focused on patients. More than half (32 [54.2%]) focused on diabetes management, and one-quarter focused on multiple cardiovascular risk factors (14 [23.7%]). Most studies (35 [59.3%]) assessed cardiovascular risk factors and health behaviors as well as decisional outcomes. The quality of studies reviewed was low to fair. The SDM intervention was associated with a decrease of 4.21 points (95% CI, -8.21 to -0.21) in Decisional Conflict Scale scores (9 trials; I2 = 85.6%) and a decrease of 0.20% (95% CI, -0.39% to -0.01%) in hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels (18 trials; I2 = 84.2%). Conclusions and Relevance: In this systematic review and meta-analysis of the current state of research on SDM interventions for cardiovascular risk management, there was a slight reduction in decisional conflict and an improvement in HbA1c levels with substantial heterogeneity. High-quality studies are needed to inform the use of SDM to improve cardiovascular risk management.

Medication Errors in Overweight and Obese Pediatric Patients: A Narrative Review.

BACKGROUND: The childhood obesity epidemic in the United States has increased utilization of health care and prescribing of medications in overweight and obese children, yet it is unclear whether this has led to more medication errors. The objective of this study was to review all available literature on incidence and types of medication errors in overweight and obese children. METHODS: A search of MEDLINE, Embase, and Scopus databases was conducted for all studies and oral abstracts through December 2020 reporting medication errors in overweight or obese children aged ≤ 18 years. All studies were identified and extracted via a Covidence database. Two reviewers independently reviewed studies and rated the methodologic quality of those included per GRADE (Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations) criteria. RESULTS: The search identified 1,016 abstracts from databases. Following review, full text was obtained for 146 articles, of which 141 were excluded. A total of 5 studies met criteria for inclusion and described dosing errors of antimicrobials, anesthetics, and paracetamol in overweight and obese pediatric patients. Two of the 5 studies compared medication errors in obese to nonobese children, and both found that medication errors (both over- and underdosing) were generally more common among obese children. The identified reasons for medication errors included incorrect dosing weight, incorrect dosing strategy, over- and underdosing with weight-based and flat-fixed dosing, and inapposite use of age-based dosing schemas. CONCLUSION: There is a paucity of patient safety evidence available evaluating medication use in overweight and obese children and associated medication errors. Overweight and obese children may be at increased risk of medication errors, although the clinical significance of this is unknown.

Development and psychometric properties of the tool for assessing LGBTQI+ health training (TALHT) in pre-licensure nursing curricula.

BACKGROUND: There is a lack of comprehensive lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI+) content in pre-licensure nursing curricula. LGBTQI+ people commonly experience mistreatment from nurses and healthcare providers due to a lack of knowledge or personal biases. To date, few instruments exist to guide LGBTQI+-specific curricular improvement. OBJECTIVES/DESIGN/SETTING/PARTICIPANT/METHODS: Johns Hopkins School of Nursing LGBTQI+ Health Initiative and Emory University School of Nursing developed the Tool for Assessing LGBTQI+ Health Training (TALHT) to assist in evaluating gaps and redundancies in LGBTQI+ health content within pre-licensure nursing curricula. Face and content validity were evaluated among experts in LGBTQI+ health, curricular development, nursing education, and measure development (N = 22). The TALHT was modified based on expert feedback and a pilot with pre-licensure faculty (N = 13) to evaluate utility and acceptability of the refined measure. RESULTS: Face and content validity evaluation of the 60-item iteration of the TALHT showed that the majority of items were consistently relevant among external expert reviewers. However, the clarity and readability of items were lacking. We triangulated the quantitative and qualitative data from experts to adapt and reduce the number of items in the TALHT to 20 items. Pilot testing of the revised 20-item measure found that utility and acceptability of the tool were rated highly among pre-licensure faculty. CONCLUSION: The validation of the TALHT comes at a time when this type of instrument is clearly needed. The Future of Nursing 2020-2030 report calls for nursing education to incorporate competencies in caring for diverse populations to promote health equity. The Essentials: Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education calls for a transition to operationalization of competency-based nursing education. The TALHT provides faculty and programs with a valid and reliable means to operationalize implementation of those competencies as they pertain to LGBTQI+ health.

The Impact of Electronic Communication of Medication Discontinuation (CancelRx) on Medication Safety: A Pilot Study.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate the impact of electronic communication of medication discontinuation from prescribers to pharmacies (CancelRx) on medication safety. METHODS: We used electronic health record (EHR) data to identify medications that were e-prescribed from a pilot practice to a health system pharmacy and subsequently discontinued before or after CancelRx implementation (January 16-April 15, 2018 versus 2019). We matched these EHR data to pharmacy management software data to identify medications that were sold to patients in the 6 months after discontinuation. As a surrogate for unintended cancellation, we also identified medications refilled within 120 days of discontinuation. We conducted a medical record review to identify documentation of prescriber intent to discontinue these medications. RESULTS: CancelRx implementation prevented prescriptions from being sold after discontinuation in the EHR (42 of 392 [10.7%] versus 0 of 387 [0.0%], P < 0.0001), but only 15 of 42 (35.7%) had documented intent to discontinue the medication (15 of 392, or 3.8% overall). There was a nonsignificant increase in the proportion of discontinued medications reordered within 120 days (10.0% versus 12.7%, P = 0.23). Medical record review of reordered prescriptions after CancelRx implementation found that 10 of 49 (10 of 387, or 2.6% overall) might have been unintentionally canceled. CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of CancelRx eliminated the sale of e-prescribed medications after discontinuation in the EHR but might result in the unintentional cancellation of some prescriptions. Strategies to increase situational awareness of providers and pharmacy staff, including increased visibility of CancelRx, clear distinctions between active and expired prescriptions, and transmission of the reason for discontinuation, might reduce the risk of unintentional cancellations.

Medication waste reduction in pediatric pharmacy batch processes.

OBJECTIVES: To inform pediatric cart-fill batch scheduling for reductions in pharmaceutical waste using a case study and simulation analysis. METHODS: A pre and post intervention and simulation analysis was conducted during 3 months at a 205-bed children's center. An algorithm was developed to detect wasted medication based on time-stamped computerized provider order entry information. The algorithm was used to quantify pharmaceutical waste and associated costs for both preintervention (1 batch per day) and postintervention (3 batches per day) schedules. Further, simulation was used to systematically test 108 batch schedules outlining general characteristics that have an impact on the likelihood for waste. RESULTS: Switching from a 1-batch-per-day to a 3-batch-per-day schedule resulted in a 31.3% decrease in pharmaceutical waste (28.7% to 19.7%) and annual cost savings of $183,380. Simulation results demonstrate how increasing batch frequency facilitates a more just-in-time process that reduces waste. The most substantial gains are realized by shifting from a schedule of 1 batch per day to at least 2 batches per day. The simulation exhibits how waste reduction is also achievable by avoiding batch preparation during daily time periods where medication administration or medication discontinuations are frequent. Last, the simulation was used to show how reducing batch preparation time per batch provides some, albeit minimal, opportunity to decrease waste. CONCLUSIONS: The case study and simulation analysis demonstrate characteristics of batch scheduling that may support pediatric pharmacy managers in redesign toward minimizing pharmaceutical waste.

Utilizing electronic health record data to determine the health of the medication process after the relocation of a children's hospital.

UNLABELLED: Hospital relocation is a highly complex undertaking, which has the potential to interrupt operations and poses risks for patients, staff, and providers. Little is known how hospital relocation impacts on workflow and communication. METHODS: Using existing Electronic Health Record (EHR) data we determined time from medication ordering to first dose administration as a proxy for well-being of the medication process during a five months window surrounding the relocation of a 205-bed children's hospital. RESULTS: Overall performance of the medication process has declined slightly. We identified regional (unit) differences with the pediatric intensive care unit, which had the most significant changes to its workflow, experiencing a more than doubling of the time from ordering to medication administration. Overall, there was no significant difference in time-sensitive medication administration times. Evaluating the medication ordering-dispensing-administration process through readily available EHR data demonstrated that the impact of a hospital' s relocation on workflow and communication can be successfully monitored.

Evaluation of medication dose alerts in pediatric inpatients.

OBJECTIVE: This study evaluates the impact of 12,093 consecutive dose alerts generated by a computerized provider order entry system on pediatric medication ordering. PATIENTS AND METHODS: All medication orders entered and all resulting medication dose alerts at the Johns Hopkins Children's Medical and Surgical Center in 2010, were retrospectively evaluated. Inclusion criteria were hospitalized patients less than 21 years old. There were no exclusion criteria. RESULTS: During 2010, there were 7738 admissions for 5553 unique patients. A total of 182,308 medication orders for 1092 unique medications were submitted by providers. Six percent (11,155) of orders or order attempts generated alerts for 2046 patients and 524 medications. Two categories of alerts were analyzed: dose range alerts and informational alerts. 73.4% (8187) of all alerts were dose range alerts, with a compliance rate of 8.5% (694); 26.6% (2968) were informational alerts, with a compliance rate of 5.5% (163). CONCLUSIONS: We found that underdosing alerts provide less value to providers than overdosing alerts. However, the low compliance with the alerts should trigger the evaluation of clinical practice behavior and the existing alert thresholds. Informational alerts noting the absence of established dosing guidelines had little effect on provider behavior and should be avoided when building a dose range alert system.