Dataset Information

Medication reconciliation in pediatric cardiology performed by a pharmacy technician: a prospective cohort comparison study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Medication reconciliation reduces potential medication discrepancies and adverse drug events. The role of pharmacy technicians in obtaining best possible medication histories (BPMHs) and performing reconciliation at the admission and transfer interfaces of care for pediatric patients has not been described.

Objectives

To compare the completeness and accuracy of BPMHs and reconciliation conducted by a pharmacy technician (pilot study) and by nurses and/or pharmacists (baseline). The severity of identified unintentional discrepancies was rated to determine their clinical importance.

Methods

This prospective cohort comparison study involved patients up to 18 years of age admitted to and/or transferred between the Cardiology ward and the Cardiac Critical Care Unit of a pediatric tertiary care teaching hospital. A pharmacy resident conducted two 3-week audits: the first to assess the completeness and accuracy of BPMHs and reconciliation performed by nurses and/or pharmacists and the second to assess the completeness and accuracy of BPMHs and reconciliation performed by a pharmacy technician.

Results

The total number of patients was 38 in the baseline phase and 46 in the pilot period. There were no statistically significant differences between the baseline and pilot audits in terms of completion of BPMH (82% [28/34] versus 78% [21/27], p = 0.75) or completion of reconciliation (70% [23/33] versus 75% [15/20], p = 0.76) within 24 h of admission. Completeness of transfer reconciliation was significantly higher during the pilot study than at baseline (91% [31/34] versus 61% [11/18], p = 0.022). No significant differences between the baseline and pilot audits were found in the proportions of patients with at least one BPMH discrepancy (38% [13/34] versus 22% [6/27], p = 0.27), at least one unintentional discrepancy upon admission (21% [7/33] versus 10% [2/20], p = 0.46), or at least one unintentional discrepancy at the transfer interface (6% [1/18] versus 3% [1/34], p = 0.58). None of the 16 unintentional discrepancies were rated as causing severe patient discomfort or clinical deterioration.

Conclusions

A trained pharmacy technician can perform admission and transfer medication reconciliation for pediatric patients with completeness and accuracy comparable to those of nurses and pharmacists. Future studies should explore the sustainability and cost-effectiveness of this practice model.

SUBMITTER: Chan C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4350505 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jan-Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Medication reconciliation in pediatric cardiology performed by a pharmacy technician: a prospective cohort comparison study.

Chan Carol C Woo Renée R Seto Winnie W Pong Sandra S Gilhooly Tessie T Russell Jennifer J

The Canadian journal of hospital pharmacy 20150101 1

<h4>Background</h4>Medication reconciliation reduces potential medication discrepancies and adverse drug events. The role of pharmacy technicians in obtaining best possible medication histories (BPMHs) and performing reconciliation at the admission and transfer interfaces of care for pediatric patients has not been described.<h4>Objectives</h4>To compare the completeness and accuracy of BPMHs and reconciliation conducted by a pharmacy technician (pilot study) and by nurses and/or pharmacists (ba ...[more]

PMID: 25762814

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Project description:IntroductionUnderstanding how pharmacy technicians and other pharmacy support workforce cadres assist pharmacists in the healthcare system will facilitate developing health systems with the ability to achieve universal health coverage as it is defined in different country contexts. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the present global variety in the technician and other pharmacy support workforce cadres considering; their scope, roles, supervision, education and legal framework.Material and methodsA structured online survey instrument was administered globally using the Survey Monkey platform, designed to address the following topic areas: roles, responsibilities, supervision, education and legislation. The survey was circulated to International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) member organisations and a variety of global list serves where pharmaceutical services are discussed.Results193 entries from 67 countries and territories were included in the final analysis revealing a vast global variety with respect to the pharmacy support workforce.Roles and competencyFrom no pharmacy technicians or other pharmacy support workforce cadres in Japan, through a variety of cadre interactions with pharmacists, to the autonomous practice of pharmacy support workforce cadres in Malawi.ResponsibilitiesFrom strictly supervised practice with a focus on supply, through autonomous practice for a variety of responsibilities, to independent practice.SupervisionFrom complete supervision for all tasks, through geographical varied supervision, to independent practice.EducationFrom on the job training, through certificate level vocational courses, to 3-4 year diploma programs.Legislation, regulation and liabilityFrom well-regulated and registered, through part regulation with weak implementation, to completely non-regulated contexts.ConclusionThis paper documents wide differences in supervision requirements, education systems and supportive legislation for pharmacy support workforce cadres globally. A more detailed understanding of specific country practice settings is required if the use of pharmacy support workforce cadres is to be optimized.

Project description:BACKGROUND:Admission medication history (AMH) errors frequently cause medication order errors and patient harm. OBJECTIVE:To quantify AMH error reduction achieved when pharmacy staff obtain AMHs before admission medication orders (AMO) are placed. METHODS:This was a three-arm randomised controlled trial of 306 inpatients. In one intervention arm, pharmacists, and in the second intervention arm, pharmacy technicians, obtained initial AMHs prior to admission. They obtained and reconciled medication information from multiple sources. All arms, including the control arm, received usual AMH care, which included variation in several common processes. The primary outcome was severity-weighted mean AMH error score. To detect AMH errors, all patients received reference standard AMHs, which were compared with intervention and control group AMHs. AMH errors and resultant AMO errors were independently identified and rated by ?2 investigators as significant, serious or life threatening. Each error was assigned 1, 4 or 9 points, respectively, to calculate severity-weighted AMH and AMO error scores for each patient. RESULTS:Patient characteristics were similar across arms (mean±SD?age 72±16 years, number of medications 15±7). Analysis was limited to 278 patients (91%) with reference standard AMHs. Mean±SD AMH errors per patient in the usual care, pharmacist and technician arms were 8.0±5.6, 1.4±1.9?and 1.5±2.1, respectively (p<0.0001). Mean±SD?severity-weighted AMH error scores were 23.0±16.1, 4.1±6.8?and 4.1±7.0 per patient, respectively (p<0.0001). These AMH errors led to a mean±SD of 3.2±2.9, 0.6±1.1?and 0.6±1.1 AMO errors per patient, and mean severity-weighted AMO error scores of 6.9±7.2, 1.5±2.9?and 1.2±2.5 per patient, respectively (both p<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS:Pharmacists and technicians reduced AMH errors and resultant AMO errors by over 80%. Future research should examine other sites and patient-centred outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER:NCT02026453.

Project description:ObjectivesThis study aimed to describe the effect of using an innovative teaching strategy using a video tutorial on enhancing students' knowledge about medication reconciliation, and skills in identifying medication discrepancies.MethodsThis is a one group pre-post interventional study that was conducted at the School of Pharmacy at Applied Science Private University. Sixty pharmacy students were invited to attend an educational sessions that involve watching a 6-minutes video tutorial. The first two levels of the Kirkpatrick's Model were used to evaluate the effectiveness of this training tool. Level 1 (Reaction) was assessed using a satisfaction questionnaire, while level 2 (Learning) was assessed using two criteria: 1) student acquired knowledge about medication reconciliation using a questionnaire and a knowledge score out of 13 was calculated for each student, and 2) student acquired skills in identifying medication discrepancies using a virtual case scenario. If the student was able to identify any of the four impeded discrepancies he/she rewarded 1 point for each identified discrepancy, but if they identified any incorrect discrepancy they scored a negative point.ResultsAmong the 60 students who registered to participate in the study, 49 attended the educational training (response rate 81.6%). The majority of them (n=44, 89.8%) were satisfied with the training process. Before the video tutorial, students showed an overall low knowledge score [4.08/13.0, SD 1.81], and low ability to identify discrepancies [0.72 identified discrepancies out of 4.0, SD 1.1]. Following the video tutorial, the overall knowledge score was improved (p<0.001), and students were able to identify more discrepancies after watching the video (p<0.001).ConclusionIn conclusion, video education has shown itself to be an effective method to educate pharmacy students.. This visualized method can be applied to other areas within pharmacy education. We encourage the integration of videos within the learning process to enhance students' learning experience and to support the traditional learning provided by the teaching staff.

Dataset Information

Medication reconciliation in pediatric cardiology performed by a pharmacy technician: a prospective cohort comparison study.

Background

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Medication reconciliation in pediatric cardiology performed by a pharmacy technician: a prospective cohort comparison study.

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