Dataset Information

Assessment of Insulin-related Knowledge among Healthcare Professionals in a Large Teaching Hospital in the United Kingdom.

ABSTRACT: Despite numerous strategies introduced to promote the safe use of insulin, insulin-related medication errors persist. Our aim was to examine the knowledge and self-reported confidence of a range of healthcare professionals regarding insulin use in a large teaching hospital in the North of England. A 16-item electronic questionnaire was prepared in light of locally reported insulin-related incidents and distributed electronically to all healthcare professionals at the hospital over a 4-week study period. A range of healthcare professionals, including nurses, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, junior doctors and consultants, completed the questionnaires (n = 109). Pharmacists achieved the greatest percentage of mean correct answers overall (49%), followed by consultant doctors (38%) and pharmacy technicians (37%), junior doctors (34%) and nurses (32%). Healthcare professionals were mainly "slightly confident" in their knowledge and use of insulin. Confidence level positively correlated to performance, but number of years' experience did not result in higher confidence or performance. This small-scale study allowed for a broad assessment of insulin-related topics that have been identified both nationally and locally as particularly problematic. Identifying knowledge gaps may help tailor strategies to help improve insulin knowledge and patient safety.

SUBMITTER: Bain A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6473239 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Assessment of Insulin-related Knowledge among Healthcare Professionals in a Large Teaching Hospital in the United Kingdom.

Bain Amie A Kavanagh Sallianne S McCarthy Sinead S Babar Zaheer Z

Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland) 20190130 1

Despite numerous strategies introduced to promote the safe use of insulin, insulin-related medication errors persist. Our aim was to examine the knowledge and self-reported confidence of a range of healthcare professionals regarding insulin use in a large teaching hospital in the North of England. A 16-item electronic questionnaire was prepared in light of locally reported insulin-related incidents and distributed electronically to all healthcare professionals at the hospital over a 4-week study ...[more]

PMID: 30704103

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Project description:IntroductionAntipsychotic medication is increasingly prescribed to patients with serious mental illness. Patients with serious mental illness often have cardiovascular and metabolic comorbidities, and antipsychotics independently increase the risk of cardiometabolic disease. Despite this, many patients prescribed antipsychotics are discharged to primary care without planned psychiatric review. We explore perceptions of healthcare professionals and managers/directors of policy regarding reasons for increasing prevalence and management of antipsychotics in primary care.MethodsQualitative study using semi-structured interviews with 11 general practitioners (GPs), 8 psychiatrists, and 11 managers/directors of policy in the United Kingdom. Data was analysed using thematic analysis.ResultsRespondents reported competency gaps that impaired ability to manage patients prescribed antipsychotic medications, arising from inadequate postgraduate training and professional development. GPs lacked confidence to manage antipsychotic medications alone; psychiatrists lacked skills to address cardiometabolic risks and did not perceive this as their role. Communication barriers, lack of integrated care records, limited psychology provision, lowered expectation towards patients with serious mental illness by professionals, and pressure to discharge from hospital resulted in patients in primary care becoming 'trapped' on antipsychotics, inhibiting opportunities to deprescribe. Organisational and contractual barriers between services exacerbate this risk, with socioeconomic deprivation and lack of access to non-pharmacological interventions driving overprescribing. Professionals voiced fears of censure if a catastrophic event occurred after stopping an antipsychotic. Facilitators to overcome these barriers were suggested.ConclusionsPeople prescribed antipsychotics experience a fragmented health system and suboptimal care. Several interventions could be taken to improve care for this population, but inadequate availability of non-pharmacological interventions and socioeconomic factors increasing mental distress need policy change to improve outcomes. The role of professionals' fear of medicolegal or regulatory censure inhibiting antipsychotic deprescribing was a new finding in this study.

Dataset Information

Assessment of Insulin-related Knowledge among Healthcare Professionals in a Large Teaching Hospital in the United Kingdom.

Publications

Assessment of Insulin-related Knowledge among Healthcare Professionals in a Large Teaching Hospital in the United Kingdom.

Similar Datasets

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