Dataset Information

Medication administration quality and health information technology: a national study of US hospitals.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To determine whether the use of computerized physician order entry (CPOE) and electronic medication administration records (eMAR) is associated with better quality of medication administration at medium-to-large acute-care hospitals. DATA/STUDY SETTING: A retrospective cross-sectional analysis of data from three sources: CPOE/eMAR usage from HIMSS Analytics (2010), medication quality scores from CMS Hospital Compare (2010), and hospital characteristics from CMS Acute Inpatient Prospective Payment System (2009). The analysis focused on 11 quality indicators (January-December 2009) at 2603 medium-to-large (? 100 beds), non-federal acute-care hospitals measuring proportion of eligible patients given (or prescribed) recommended medications for conditions, including acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, and pneumonia, and surgical care improvement. Using technology adoption by 2008 as reference, hospitals were coded: (1) eMAR-only adopters (n=986); (2) CPOE-only adopters (n=115); and (3) adopters of both technologies (n=804); with non-adopters of both technologies as reference group (n=698). Hospitals were also coded for duration of use in 2-year increments since technology adoption. Hospital characteristics, historical measure-specific patient volume, and propensity scores for technology adoption were used to control for confounding factors. The analysis was performed using a generalized linear model (logit link and binomial family).

Principal findings

Relative to non-adopters of both eMAR and CPOE, the odds of adherence to all measures (except one) were higher by 14-29% for eMAR-only hospitals and by 13-38% for hospitals with both technologies, translating to a marginal increase of 0.4-2.0 percentage points. Further, each additional 2 years of technology use was associated with 6-15% higher odds of compliance on all medication measures for eMAR-only hospitals and users of both technologies.

Conclusions

Implementation and duration of use of health information technologies are associated with improved adherence to medication guidelines at US hospitals. The benefits are evident for adoption of eMAR systems alone and in combination with CPOE.

SUBMITTER: Appari A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3341782 | biostudies-literature | 2012 May-Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Medication administration quality and health information technology: a national study of US hospitals.

Appari Ajit A Carian Emily K EK Johnson M Eric ME Anthony Denise L DL

Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA 20111028 3

<h4>Objective</h4>To determine whether the use of computerized physician order entry (CPOE) and electronic medication administration records (eMAR) is associated with better quality of medication administration at medium-to-large acute-care hospitals. DATA/STUDY SETTING: A retrospective cross-sectional analysis of data from three sources: CPOE/eMAR usage from HIMSS Analytics (2010), medication quality scores from CMS Hospital Compare (2010), and hospital characteristics from CMS Acute Inpatient ...[more]

PMID: 22037889

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundDelivery of preventive care and chronic disease management are key components of a high functioning primary care practice. Health Centers (HCs) funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) have been delivering affordable and accessible primary health care to patients in underserved communities for over fifty years. This study examines the association between health center organization's health information technology (IT) optimization and clinical quality performance.Methods and findingsUsing 2016 Uniform Data System (UDS) data, we performed bivariate and multivariate analyses to study the association of Meaningful Use (MU) attestation as a proxy for health IT optimization, patient centered medical home (PCMH) recognition status, and practice size on performance of twelve electronically specified clinical quality measures (eCQMs). Bivariate analysis demonstrated performance of eleven out of the twelve preventive and chronic care eCQMs was higher among HCs attesting to MU Stage 2 or above. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that Stage 2 MU or above, PCMH status, and larger practice size were positively associated with performance on cancer screening, smoking cessation counseling and pediatric weight assessment and counseling eCQMs.ConclusionsOrganizational advancement in MU stages has led to improved quality of care that augments HCs patient care capacity for disease prevention, health promotion, and chronic care management. However, rapid technological advancement in health care acts as a potential source of disparity, as considerable resources needed to optimize the electronic health record (EHR) and to undertake PCMH transformation are found more commonly among larger HCs practices. Smaller practices may lack the financial, human and educational assets to implement and to maintain EHR technology. Accordingly, targeted approaches to support small HCs practices in leveraging economies of scale for health IT optimization, clinical decision support, and clinical workflow enhancements are critical for practices to thrive in the dynamic value-based payment environment.

Project description:Background Providing appropriate medication information to patients is of utmost importance for optimal pharmacotherapy. (Un)intentional miscommunication and information gaps resulting in unmet needs could negatively affect patient's ability to use their medication properly. Objective To identify the information needs and patient perceptions of the quality of medication information available in hospitals in the Netherlands. Setting Cardiology, oncology, or rheumatology department of five hospitals. Methods Adult cardiology, oncology, and rheumatology patients participated in this mixed-method study. Focus groups and individual interviews were held to identify patients' views on the medication information and their information needs. Outcomes were used to construct a questionnaire that was used in a survey among patients to compare existing medication information with patients' needs, and to judge the quality of the provided information. Main outcome measure Patients needs with medication information. Results Four themes derived from interviews with 44 patients: (1) Content; almost all patients acknowledged to receive insufficient information not meeting their personal needs. (2) Moment of delivery; patients were dissatisfied with the timing. (3) Method of delivery; patients highly preferred verbal and written information. (4) Contextual quality prerequisites that should be met according to patients; medication information should be accessible, comprehensive, reliable and understandable. A total of 352 patients completed the questionnaire. Almost all patients reported all items as important, whereas up to 74.6% patients were not informed. Up to half of the patients perceived verbal information from healthcare providers, written information of leaflets and folders of insufficient quality. Conclusion Patients attending Dutch hospitals have needs for extensive medication information, which should be tailored to their individual needs. According to patients the quality of medication information available in hospitals can be improved.

Project description:BackgroundHealth information technology (HIT) has been widely adopted in hospital settings, contributing to improved patient safety. However, many types of medical errors attributable to information technology (IT) have negatively impacted patient safety. The continued occurrence of many errors is a reminder that HIT software testing and validation is not adequate in ensuring errorless software functioning within the health care organization.ObjectiveThis pilot study aims to classify technology-related medical errors in a hospital setting using an expanded version of the sociotechnical framework to understand the significant differences in the perceptions of clinical and technology stakeholders regarding the potential causes of these errors. The paper also provides some recommendations to prevent future errors.MethodsMedical errors were collected from previous studies identified in leading health databases. From the main list, we selected errors that occurred in hospital settings. Semistructured interviews with 5 medical and 6 IT professionals were conducted to map the events on different dimensions of the expanded sociotechnical framework.ResultsOf the 2319 identified publications, 36 were included in the review. Of the 67 errors collected, 12 occurred in hospital settings. The classification showed the "gulf" that exists between IT and medical professionals in their perspectives on the underlying causes of medical errors. IT experts consider technology as the source of most errors and suggest solutions that are mostly technical. However, clinicians assigned the source of errors within the people, process, and contextual dimensions. For example, for the error "Copied and pasted charting in the wrong window: Before, you could not easily get into someone else's chart accidentally...because you would have to pull the chart and open it," medical experts highlighted contextual issues, including the number of patients a health care provider sees in a short time frame, unfamiliarity with a new electronic medical record system, nurse transitions around the time of error, and confusion due to patients having the same name. They emphasized process controls, including failure modes, as a potential fix. Technology experts, in contrast, discussed the lack of notification, poor user interface, and lack of end-user training as critical factors for this error.ConclusionsKnowledge of the dimensions of the sociotechnical framework and their interplay with other dimensions can guide the choice of ways to address medical errors. These findings lead us to conclude that designers need not only a high degree of HIT know-how but also a strong understanding of the medical processes and contextual factors. Although software development teams have historically included clinicians as business analysts or subject matter experts to bridge the gap, development teams will be better served by more immersive exposure to clinical environments, leading to better software design and implementation, and ultimately to enhanced patient safety.

Project description:ImportanceElevated blood glucose levels are common in hospitalized older adults and may lead clinicians to intensify outpatient diabetes medications at discharge, risking potential overtreatment when patients return home.ObjectiveTo assess how often hospitalized older adults are discharged with intensified diabetes medications and the likelihood of benefit associated with these intensifications.Design, setting, and participantsThis retrospective cohort study examined patients aged 65 years and older with diabetes not previously requiring insulin. The study included patients who were hospitalized in a Veterans Health Administration hospital for common medical conditions between 2011 and 2013.Main outcomes and measuresIntensification of outpatient diabetes medications, defined as receiving a new or higher-dose medication at discharge than was being taken prior to hospitalization. Mixed-effect logistic regression models were used to control for patient and hospitalization characteristics.ResultsOf 16 178 patients (mean [SD] age, 73 [8] years; 15 895 [98%] men), 8535 (53%) had a preadmission hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) level less than 7.0%, and 1044 (6%) had an HbA1c level greater than 9.0%. Overall, 1626 patients (10%) were discharged with intensified diabetes medications including 781 (5%) with new insulins and 557 (3%) with intensified sulfonylureas. Nearly half of patients receiving intensifications (49% [791 of 1626]) were classified as being unlikely to benefit owing to limited life expectancy or already being at goal HbA1c, while 20% (329 of 1626) were classified as having potential to benefit. Both preadmission HbA1c level and inpatient blood glucose recordings were associated with discharge with intensified diabetes medications. Among patients with a preadmission HbA1c level less than 7.0%, the predicted probability of receiving an intensification was 4% (95% CI, 3%-4%) for patients without elevated inpatient blood glucose levels and 21% (95% CI, 15%-26%) for patients with severely elevated inpatient blood glucose levels.Conclusions and relevanceIn this study, 1 in 10 older adults with diabetes hospitalized for common medical conditions was discharged with intensified diabetes medications. Nearly half of these individuals were unlikely to benefit owing to limited life expectancy or already being at their HbA1c goal.

Project description:AbstractHealth information technology (IT) is often proposed as a solution to fragmentation of care, and has been hypothesized to reduce readmission risk through better information flow. However, there are numerous distinct health IT capabilities, and it is unclear which, if any, are associated with lower readmission risk.To identify the specific health IT capabilities adopted by hospitals that are associated with hospital-level risk-standardized readmission rates (RSRRs) through path analyses using structural equation modeling.This STROBE-compliant retrospective cross-sectional study included non-federal U.S. acute care hospitals, based on their adoption of specific types of health IT capabilities self-reported in a 2013 American Hospital Association IT survey as independent variables. The outcome measure included the 2014 RSRRs reported on Hospital Compare website.A 54-indicator 7-factor structure of hospital health IT capabilities was identified by exploratory factor analysis, and corroborated by confirmatory factor analysis. Subsequent path analysis using Structural equation modeling revealed that a one-point increase in the hospital adoption of patient engagement capability latent scores (median path coefficient ß = -0.086; 95% Confidence Interval, -0.162 to -0.008), including functionalities like direct access to the electronic health records, would generally lead to a decrease in RSRRs by 0.086%. However, computerized hospital discharge and information exchange capabilities with other inpatient and outpatient providers were not associated with readmission rates.These findings suggest that improving patient access to and use of their electronic health records may be helpful in improving hospital performance on readmission; however, computerized hospital discharge and information exchange among clinicians did not seem as beneficial - perhaps because of the quality or timeliness of information transmitted. Future research should use more recent data to study, not just adoption of health IT capabilities, but also whether their usage is associated with lower readmission risk. Understanding which capabilities impact readmission risk can help policymakers and clinical stakeholders better focus their scarce resources as they invest in health IT to improve care delivery.

Dataset Information

Medication administration quality and health information technology: a national study of US hospitals.

Objective

Principal findings

Conclusions

Publications

Medication administration quality and health information technology: a national study of US hospitals.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets