| Patient safety and medication error |
META network   |
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Medication Error and Technologies Analysis network
|
| keywords |
main objectives |
|
Medical errors, medication errors, adverse drug events; risk management, patient safety, quality of care, technology evaluation
|
Multidisciplinary research into patient safety focusing on
information and communication technologies designed to reduce medication
error -
computerised prescribing systems and automated dispensing systems.
|
| description |
|
 Motivation:
"
The limited and conflicting evidence, and the contrasting opinions about the ability of ICT (information and communication technology) to improve patient safety, provides the background motivation for this network. We have chosen to focus on medication error in particular since it is the commonest error, it is an area in which there is the largest literature on causation, measurement and incidence, and it is an area in which there is already a proliferation of adoption of ICT.
"
Main objectives include:
"To develop the research agenda for medication error and technologies analysis"
"to build up the research capacity in medication error and technologies analysis"
"to establish the network as a self-sufficient body."
The Network operates through a series of multi-disciplinary workshops.
|
| references |
| Barber N, Rawlins M, Dean Franklin B.
Reducing prescribing error: competence, control, and culture.
Qual Saf Health Care. 2003 Dec;12 Suppl 1:i29-32.
[PubMed]
[]
|
"
Medication errors are probably the most prevalent form of medical error, and prescribing errors are the most important source of medication errors. In this article we suggest interventions are needed at three levels to improve prescribing: (1) improve the training, and test the competence, of prescribers; (2) control the environment in which prescribers perform in order to standardise it, have greater controls on riskier drugs, and use technology to provide decision support; and (3) change organisational cultures, which do not support the belief that prescribing is a complex, technical, act, and that it is important to get it right. Solutions involve overt acknowledgement of this by senior clinicians and managers, and an open process of sharing and reviewing prescribing decisions.
"
|
|
Dean B, Barber N, Schachter M.
What is a prescribing error?
Qual Health Care. 2000 Dec;9(4):232-7.
[PubMed]
[Qual Health Care]
|
"
OBJECTIVE: To develop a practitioner led definition of a prescribing error for use in quantitative studies of their incidence. DESIGN: Two stage Delphi technique. SUBJECTS: A panel of 34 UK judges, which included physicians, surgeons, pharmacists, nurses and risk managers. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The extent to which judges agreed with a general definition of a prescribing error, and the extent to which they agreed that each of 42 scenarios represented a prescribing error. RESULTS: Responses were obtained from 30 (88%) of 34 judges in the first Delphi round, and from 26 (87%) of 30 in the second round. The general definition of a prescribing error was accepted. The panel reached consensus that 24 of the 42 scenarios should be included as prescribing errors and that five should be excluded. In general, transcription errors, failure to communicate essential information, and the use of drugs or doses inappropriate for the individual patient were considered prescribing errors; deviations from policies or guidelines were not. CONCLUSIONS: Health care professionals are in broad agreement about the types of events that should be included and excluded as prescribing errors. A general definition of a prescribing error has been developed, together with more detailed guidance regarding the types of events that should be included. This definition allows the comparison of prescribing error rates among different prescribing systems and different hospitals, and is suitable for use in both research and clinical governance initiatives.
" |
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| start date
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end date
|
location |
support |
January 2004
|
December 2005 |
Co-ordinated in UK; European and US links. |
UK Medical Research Council (MRC), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). |
| contact |
links |
Co-ordinator:
School of Pharmacy
University of London
29-39 Brunswick Square
London, WC1N 1AX, UK
Other partners:
UK: London School of Economics,
University of Nottingham,
Brunel University,
Great Ormond Street Hospital,
Hammersmith Hospitals NHS Trust,
Imperial College, London,
Picker Institute Europe,
University College London.
USA:
Auburn University, Alabama,
Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston
|
|
| acknowledgements |
| Dr. Ela Klecun, Information Systems Department,
London School of Economics and Political Science
|
Entry in directory: May 14 2004
Last main update: June 24 2004 |
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META network