Brigitte Sabatier

Drug Administration Errors in Hospital Inpatients: A Systematic Review

Context Drug administration in the hospital setting is the last barrier before a possible error reaches the patient. Objectives We aimed to analyze the prevalence and nature of administration error rate detected by the observation method. Data Sources Embase, MEDLINE, Cochrane Library from 1966 to December 2011 and reference lists of included studies. Study Selection Observational studies, cross-sectional studies, before-and-after studies, and randomized controlled trials that measured the rate of administration errors in inpatients were included. Data Extraction Two reviewers (senior pharmacists) independently identified studies for inclusion. One reviewer extracted the data; the second reviewer checked the data. The main outcome was the error rate calculated as being the number of errors without wrong time errors divided by the Total Opportunity for Errors (TOE, sum of the total number of doses ordered plus the unordered doses given), and multiplied by 100. For studies that reported it, clinical impact was reclassified into four categories from fatal to minor or no impact. Due to a large heterogeneity, results were expressed as median values (interquartile range, IQR), according to their study design. Results Among 2088 studies, a total of 52 reported TOE. Most of the studies were cross-sectional studies (N=46). The median error rate without wrong time errors for the cross-sectional studies using TOE was 10.5% [IQR: 7.3%-21.7%]. No fatal error was observed and most errors were classified as minor in the 18 studies in which clinical impact was analyzed. We did not find any evidence of publication bias. Conclusions Administration errors are frequent among inpatients. The median error rate without wrong time errors for the cross-sectional studies using TOE was about 10%. A standardization of administration error rate using the same denominator (TOE), numerator and types of errors is essential for further publications.

Interventions to reduce nurses’ medication administration errors in inpatient settings: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Serious medication administration errors are common in hospitals. Various interventions, including barcode-based technologies, have been developed to help prevent such errors. This systematic review and this meta-analysis focus on the efficacy of interventions for reducing medication administration errors. The types of error and their gravity were also studied. METHODS MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library and reference lists of relevant articles published between January 1975 and August 2014 were searched, without language restriction. Randomized controlled trials, interrupted time-series studies, non-randomized controlled trials and controlled before-and-after studies were included. Studies evaluating interventions for decreasing administration errors based on total opportunity for error method were included. Nurses administering medications to adult or child inpatients were considered eligible as participants. Two reviewers independently assessed studies for eligibility, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias. The main outcome was the error rate without wrong-time errors measured at study level. A random effects model was used to evaluate the effects of interventions on administration errors. RESULTS 5312 records from electronic database searches were identified. Seven studies were included: five were randomized controlled trials (including one crossover trial) and two were non-randomized controlled trials. Interventions were training-related (n=4; dedicated medication nurses, interactive CD-ROM program, simulation-based learning, pharmacist-led training program), and technology-related (n=3; computerized prescribing and automated medication dispensing systems). All studies were subject to a high risk of bias, mostly due to a lack of blinding to outcome assessment and a risk of contamination. No difference between the control group and the intervention group was found (OR=0.72 [0.39; 1.34], p=0.3). No fatal error was observed in the three studies evaluating the gravity of errors. CONCLUSIONS This review did not find evidence that interventions can effectively decrease administration errors. In addition, most studies had a high risk of bias. More evaluation studies with stronger designs are required.

Improvement of Postischemic Kidney Function by Reperfusion With a Specifically Developed Solution (BT01)

Reperfusion is a critical phase of organ preservation. The purpose of this study was to develop a solution specifically for postischemic kidney reperfusion. Unilateral left normothermic kidney ischemia was induced for 60 minutes in two groups of micropigs. In group 1 (control pigs, n = 6) the kidney was reperfused immediately with pure blood at systemic pressure by unclamping the renal artery. In group 2 (test animals, n = 6) the kidney was initially reperfused with an intracellular flush solution enriched with solution BT01 composed of cytoprotectors (natriuretic factor, PGI2), free radical chelating agents (allopurinol, mannitol), and substrates for the mitochondrial respiratory chain (aspartate, glutamate). This solution was mixed immediately before use with blood in a ration of 1:4 parts and injected into the left renal artery with a perfuser at a constant pressure of 60 mm Hg. After 20 minutes, the kidney was reperfused with systemic blood for 100 minutes. Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was determined by measuring inulin clearance. Kidney blood flow was measured throughout the experiment. After 120 minutes of reperfusion, the kidneys were removed for histologic examination. In the control pigs (group 1) 50% of the animals were anuric. The ratio between GFR measured in the left kidney at the end of perfusion and at equilibrium in the remaining animals was 0.16 +/- 0.01. In test animals (group 2) all animals recovered diuresis. The ratio between GFR measured in the left kidney at the end of perfusion and equilibrium was 0.51 +/- 0.12 (p < 0.001, group 2 vs. group 1). In group 2 postperfusion kidney blood flow was higher than in group 1 (63.0 ml/min vs. 27.4 ml/min; p < 0.05) because of a decrease in renal vascular resistance. Light microscopic examination of kidneys form animals in group 1 revealed tubular necrosis that extended to the parenchyma, with exposure of tubular interstitium. In group 2 only degenerative lesions with edema of tubular cells and disappearance of brush borders were observed. Our findings indicate that flushing the kidneys with BT01 solution mixed with blood improves postischemic kidney function by reducing reperfusion damage.

Treatment for Stable Coronary Artery Disease: A Network Meta-Analysis of Cost-Effectiveness Studies

Introduction and Objectives Numerous studies have assessed cost-effectiveness of different treatment modalities for stable angina. Direct comparisons, however, are uncommon. We therefore set out to compare the efficacy and mean cost per patient after 1 and 3 years of follow-up, of the following treatments as assessed in randomized controlled trials (RCT): medical therapy (MT), percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) without stent (PTCA), with bare-metal stent (BMS), with drug-eluting stent (DES), and elective coronary artery bypass graft (CABG). Methods RCT comparing at least two of the five treatments and reporting clinical and cost data were identified by a systematic search. Clinical end-points were mortality and myocardial infarction (MI). The costs described in the different trials were standardized and expressed in US

Cost-Effectiveness of Mitral Valve Repair Versus Replacement by Biologic or Mechanical Prosthesis

2008, based on purchasing power parity. A network meta-analysis was used to compare costs. Results Fifteen RCT were selected. Mortality and MI rates were similar in the five treatment groups both for 1-year and 3-year follow-up. Weighted cost per patient however differed markedly for the five treatment modalities, at both one year and three years (P<0.0001). MT was the least expensive treatment modality: US

A simulation study of the interception of prescribing errors by clinical pharmacists in an acute hospital setting

3069 and 13 864 after one and three years of follow-up, while CABG was the most costly: US

Iatrogenic risk factors associated with hospital readmission of elderly patients: A matched case‐control study using a clinical data warehouse

27 003 and 28 670 after one and three years. PCI, whether with plain balloon, BMS or DES came in between, but was closer to the costs of CABG. Conclusions Appreciable savings in health expenditures can be achieved by using MT in the management of patients with stable angina.

A centralized automated-dispensing system in a French teaching hospital: return on investment and quality improvement

BACKGROUND Surgical treatment strategies for mitral valve disease have progressively shifted toward repair given the better survival outcomes with this type of intervention. However, valve repairs and valve replacement may require reoperations with time. In the absence of clinical trials assessing the effectiveness of various mitral surgical treatments with time, we propose to develop cost-effectiveness models to compare sequential treatment strategies. METHODS Three simulation models were carried out to assess the cost-effectiveness of mitral valve repair as first-line treatment, compared with either mechanical or biologic valve replacements. Efficacy data were derived from both the published literature and from a specific clinical cohort of 582 patients treated for this condition. Using the French public health care system perspective, relevant direct costs were derived using a local resource utilization assessment and official costing data sources. RESULTS Over 10 years, costs per success were significantly lower (p < 0.01) for the mitral valve repair strategy versus biologic or mechanical valve replacements (€35,550, €49,492, and €54,634 per success, respectively). Over 20 years, costs per success were significantly lower (p < 0.01) for the mechanical valve replacement strategy compared with the mitral valve repair and biologic valve replacement (€94,763, €100,053, and €147,484 per success, respectively). CONCLUSIONS Considering the increased referral rate in older patients with degenerative mitral valve disease, and their shorter life expectancy, these results show that when medically required and technically practicable, mitral valve repair should be considered as the first-line strategy.

A clinical data warehouse-based process for refining medication orders alerts

Rationale, aims and objectives To evaluate the performance of several pharmacists in the same department who analysed the same prescriptions in a simulation study. Methods One hundred prescriptions were retrospectively extracted from the prospective database of our hospital. Five clinical pharmacists working in the same department were asked to analyse individually the order lines of each prescription as if it were part of their routine daily practice. Afterward, an independent committee of five other clinical pharmacists reviewed the same 100 prescriptions. We calculated the sensitivity and the specificity of error detection in a line order by using the results of the committee as the gold standard. Results A total of 908 order lines were analysed (mean 9 ± 3 order lines per prescription). Fifty-one medication errors were identified by the committee (5.6%), including 23 related to laboratory test results: renal failure, or therapeutic concentrations being too low or too high. The sensitivity of the five pharmacists ranged between 19.6% and 56.9% and the specificity between 92.8% and 98.7%. The rates of agreement between each pharmacist and the committee, assessed using kappa coefficient, were between 0.20 and 0.39. The main factors affecting sensitivity and/or specificity in univariate analysis were the number of drugs per prescription, type of drug prescribed (ATC classification) and the glomerular filtration rate. Conclusion Discrepancies between the performances of pharmacists exist, as there are between other health care professionals. Pharmacist training, standardization of the pharmaceutical analysis of drug prescription, and implementation of a clinical decision support system allowing biological values to be linked to drug prescriptions could improve individual performance.RATIONALE, AIMS AND OBJECTIVES To evaluate the performance of several pharmacists in the same department who analysed the same prescriptions in a simulation study. METHODS One hundred prescriptions were retrospectively extracted from the prospective database of our hospital. Five clinical pharmacists working in the same department were asked to analyse individually the order lines of each prescription as if it were part of their routine daily practice. Afterward, an independent committee of five other clinical pharmacists reviewed the same 100 prescriptions. We calculated the sensitivity and the specificity of error detection in a line order by using the results of the committee as the gold standard. RESULTS A total of 908 order lines were analysed (mean 9 ± 3 order lines per prescription). Fifty-one medication errors were identified by the committee (5.6%), including 23 related to laboratory test results: renal failure, or therapeutic concentrations being too low or too high. The sensitivity of the five pharmacists ranged between 19.6% and 56.9% and the specificity between 92.8% and 98.7%. The rates of agreement between each pharmacist and the committee, assessed using kappa coefficient, were between 0.20 and 0.39. The main factors affecting sensitivity and/or specificity in univariate analysis were the number of drugs per prescription, type of drug prescribed (ATC classification) and the glomerular filtration rate. CONCLUSION Discrepancies between the performances of pharmacists exist, as there are between other health care professionals. Pharmacist training, standardization of the pharmaceutical analysis of drug prescription, and implementation of a clinical decision support system allowing biological values to be linked to drug prescriptions could improve individual performance.

Validity of a clinical decision rule-based alert system for drug dose adjustment in patients with renal failure intended to improve pharmacists’ analysis of medication orders in hospitals

Hospital readmission within 30 days of patient discharge has become a standard to judge the quality of hospitalizations. It is estimated that 14% of the elderly, people over 75 years old or those over 65 with comorbidities, are at risk of readmission, of which 23% are avoidable. It may be possible to identify elderly patients at risk of readmission and implement steps to reduce avoidable readmissions.