Meds error study awarded

A STUDY published by a PhD student at Monash University’s Faculty of Pharmacy has been highlighted as the best research article in the Medical Journal of Australia last year, winning its authors $10,000 in cash.

Erica Jong from the Monash Centre for Medicine Use and Safety received the MDA National Prize for Excellence in Medicine Research for her article titled “Reducing medication errors in hospital discharge summaries: a randomised controlled trial” (PD 17 Jan 2017).

The winning study analysed discharge summaries for patients leaving the Alfred Hospital between Mar and Jul 2015, with those randomised to the intervention arm of the trial receiving medication management plans completed by a pharmacist - while those in the control arm received standard medical discharge summaries.

Jong led the team which included senior pharmacist Cristina Roman, Assoc Prof Biswadev Mitra, Dr Gary Yip, Assoc Prof Harry Gibbs, Assoc Prof Harry Newnham, Assoc Prof De Villiers Smit, Assoc Prof Kristen Galbraith and SHPA president Professor Michael Dooley, Alfred Health’s Director of Pharmacy.

The 832 patients included in the study were prescribed more than 8,000 medications in total.

Of the 431 in the control arm, 265 (61.5% ) received summaries in which at least one medication error was identified.

By contrast just 60 (15%) of the discharge summaries completed by pharmacists had at least one error.

The absolute risk reduction was 46.5%, with the most common errors being omitted drugs and incorrect dosing frequencies.

Pharmacist completion of medication plans on discharge has now been implemented as routine care in most clinical units at the hospital, with the authors urging the integration of clinical pharmacists into all medical units within Australian hospitals.