International journal of evidence-based healthcare
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Int J Evid Based Healthc · Jun 2020
A clinical pharmacist-led integrated approach for evaluation of medication errors among medical intensive care unit patients.
Medication errors jeopardize the safety of critically ill patients. Using only one method for the detection of medication errors may not reflect an existing picture of patient safety accurately. Therefore, we designed a clinical pharmacist-led integrated approach to evaluate incidence rate, type, and severity of medication errors and preventable adverse drug events (ADEs) and to assess the impact of the implementation of interventions recommended by the clinical pharmacist. ⋯ The clinical pharmacist-led integrated approach revealed that medication errors commonly occurred among critically ill patients, and the clinical pharmacist's interventions intercepted the majority of these medication errors. The number of preventable ADEs was significantly fewer in a group of patients who received these interventions. However, medication errors formed chains of errors that adversely affected patients' investigated outcomes in the study group with no implementation of the clinical pharmacist interventions.
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Int J Evid Based Healthc · Jun 2020
Interventions to ensure medication safety in acute care: an umbrella review.
Medication errors are one of the leading avoidable sources of harm to hospital patients. In hospitals, a range of interventions have been used to reduce the risk of errors at each of the points they may occur, such as prescription, dispensing and/or administration. Systematic reviews have been conducted on many of these interventions; however, it is difficult to compare the clinical utility of any of the separate interventions without the use of a rigorous umbrella review methodology. ⋯ For some interventions, there are strong indications of effectiveness in reducing medication errors in the inpatient setting. Government initiatives, policy makers and practitioners interested in improving medication safety are encouraged to adopt those interventions.