Too far away to work with each other: Does location impact on pharmacists’ perceptions of interprofessional interactions?

In recent years, the delivery of health services has seen a shift towards interprofessional teamwork in order to effectively utilise the skills of each member of the healthcare team to deliver optimal patient care. Nevertheless, a variety of barriers, including lack of communication between healthcare professionals (HCPs), have been identified. The expanding clinical services provided by community pharmacies have increased the potential for pharmacist-HCP interaction; however, primary care pharmacy environments vary from individual distinct premises to part of interprofessional ‘health centres’. As such, one potential factor affecting interprofessional communication could be the geographical location (‘space’) of HCPs. This study sought to determine whether these different primary healthcare ‘spaces’ impact on the frequency of interprofessional interactions. An anonymous, self-complete questionnaire was sent to all community pharmacies in Wales (n = 716) to quantify the frequency of interprofessional interactions between community pharmacists and other HCPs. A response rate of 62% was achieved. Results showed that pharmacists working in pharmacies physically linked to general practitioner (GP) surgeries had significantly more frequent interaction with HCPs based within the surgeries. This suggests that housing HCPs in the same physical space will enable more interprofessional interaction, supporting the drive to improve the quality of patient care.     

Evaluation of a computer‐based intervention to enhance metabolic monitoring in psychiatry inpatients treated with second‐generation antipsychotics

What is known and Objective: Second‐generation antipsychotics (SGAs) play an important role in the pharmacologic management of various psychiatric conditions. Use of these medications has been associated with metabolic complications. Adherence to guideline‐recommended monitoring is suboptimal. We evaluated the effect of a computerized physician order entry (CPOE) pop‐up alert designed to improve rates of laboratory metabolic monitoring of patients treated with SGAs on a University Hospital inpatient psychiatry unit. Methods: A single‐centre, retrospective chart review was performed in which patient demographics and SGA drug and laboratory data were extracted from the CPOE database. We assessed the number of orders for appropriate metabolic monitoring data for patients admitted within a 6‐month period before or after the alert implementation. Results and Discussion: Pre‐alert (n = 171) and post‐alert (n = 157) groups were similar with respect to age, length of stay, sex, race and comorbidities. Following alert implementation, significant increases in monitoring both random (92·4% vs. 100%) and fasting (46·8% vs. 70%) glucose levels as well as random (28·7% vs. 74·5%) and fasting (18·7% vs. 59·9%) lipid panels (all P ≤ 0·001) were observed. The number of patients with both a fasting glucose level and fasting lipid panel available for monitoring increased from 12·9% to 47·8% (P < 0·0001). Significantly more post‐alert laboratory orders were submitted at the same time as the SGA drug order (P < 0·0001), suggesting that the alert itself had a direct influence on the ordering of metabolic monitoring labs. What is new and Conclusions: Implementation and use of an electronic pop‐up alert in an inpatient psychiatric unit significantly improved rates of ordering fasting blood glucose and lipid levels for inpatients treated with SGAs. Overall rates remain suboptimal, suggesting a need for additional strategies to further improve metabolic monitoring.     

GPs' views on computerized drug interaction alerts: questionnaire survey

BACKGROUND: There is evidence that patients are being prescribed potentially hazardous drug-drug combinations in general practice despite the use of computerized drug interaction alert systems. One reason for this may be that general practitioners (GPs) are overriding these alerts without properly checking them. AIMS: (i) To assess GPs views on the relevance of information provided by alert systems; (ii) To determine the proportion of GPs that admit to frequently overriding interaction alerts without properly checking them and (iii) To explore factors that might be associated with a tendency to override alerts. METHODS: Questionnaire survey of GPs in four primary care trusts in the Nottingham area of the UK. RESULTS: The response rate was 70% (236 of 336) and detailed analysis was conducted on the 220 respondents who had drug interaction alert systems on their practice computers. Of these, 22% (49 of 220) admitted to frequently or very frequently overriding drug interaction alerts without properly checking them. Potential reasons for overriding alerts included the perception that the alerts were frequently irrelevant. Nevertheless 90% (198 of 219) agreed that it should be more difficult to override alerts for potentially lethal drug combinations. Logistic regression analysis showed that users of the EMIS (Egton Medical Information Systems) computer system were much less likely to admit to overriding alerts without properly checking them than users of other computer systems. CONCLUSION: A minority of GPs admit to frequently overriding their drug interaction alert systems without properly checking them. The type of computer system used by GPs may make it more or less likely that they override alerts.     

Uptake and effectiveness of a community pharmacy intervention programme to improve asthma management

What is known and Objective: Pharmacists frequently see patients with asthma in the community who have suboptimal management. This study aimed to compare the uptake and effectiveness of pharmacist‐initiated mailed and face‐to‐face interventions for patients whose asthma may not be well managed. Methods: Seventy‐one community pharmacies in South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria (Australia) installed a software application that data‐mined dispensing records, generating a list of patients who had received six or more asthma reliever inhalers in the preceding 12 months. The pharmacists were randomized, by pharmacy, to perform either a mailed or face‐to‐face intervention, whereby these patients received educational material and a referral to their general practitioner (GP) for an asthma management review. Matching patients from each pharmacy were also randomly assigned to a control group for ‘usual care’. Results and Discussion: A total of 1483 patients were identified and grouped as follows: 510 (34·4%) mailed intervention, 480 (32·4%) face‐to‐face intervention and 493 (33·2%) controls. Significantly fewer face‐to‐face interventions were offered than mailed interventions (66·6% vs. 89·4%, respectively; χ² = 64·2, P < 0·0001). There were significant improvements in the preventer‐to‐reliever ratio after the intervention period (P < 0·0001) in each group. In a per‐protocol analysis, the magnitude of improvement in the face‐to‐face intervention group was greater than in the mailed intervention group. The reverse was true in an intention‐to‐treat analysis. The improvement in the P : R ratios was mainly due to significant decreases in reliever usage. What is new and Conclusion: Community pharmacy dispensing records can effectively identify patients with suboptimal asthma management, who can then be referred to their GP for review. Time constraints in busy pharmacies may limit the uptake and effectiveness of face‐to‐face interventions in the ‘real world’ setting, making mailed interventions an attractive option.     

The contribution of patient interviews to the identification of drug‐related problems in home medication review

What is known and Objective: To determine to what extent patient interviews contribute to the identification of drug‐related problems (DRPs) in home medication reviews, in terms of number, type and clinical relevance. Methods: We performed a cross‐sectional study within the intervention arm of a randomized controlled trial. Patients were recruited from 10 Dutch community pharmacies. Patients were eligible if they were home‐dwelling, aged 65 years and over and used five or more different drugs, including at least one cardiovascular or antidiabetic drug. The community pharmacist interviewed the patient at home about the medicines and identified potential DRPs in combination with medication and clinical records. This medication review was assessed and modified by an independent pharmacist reviewers’ panel. Outcomes were the number and type of DRPs and recommendations and percentage of clinical relevant DRPs. Clinical relevance of DRPs was assessed by DRPs assigned a high priority, DRPs followed by recommendations for drug change and DRPs followed by implemented recommendations for drug change. Results: A total of 1565 potential DRPs and recommendations (10 per patient).were identified for 155 patients (median age, 76 years; 54% women). Fifty‐eight per cent of all recommendations involved a drug change; 27% of all DRPs were identified during patient interviews and 74% from medication and clinical records. Compared to DRPs identified from patient medication and clinical records, DRPs identified during patient interviews were more frequently assigned a high priority (OR = 1·8 [1·4–2·2]), were more frequently associated with recommendations for drug change (OR = 2·4 [1·9–3·1]) and were implemented recommendations for drug change (OR = 2·8 [2·1–3·7]). What is new and Conclusion: This study shows that more than a quarter of all DRPs were identified during patient interviews. DRPs identified during patient interviews were more frequently assigned a higher clinical relevance.     

Using snowball sampling method with nurses to understand medication administration errors

Aims and objectives. We aimed to encourage nurses to release information about drug administration errors to increase understanding of error‐related circumstances and to identify high‐alert situations. Background. Drug administration errors represent the majority of medication errors, but errors are underreported. Effective ways are lacking to encourage nurses to actively report errors. Methods. Snowball sampling was conducted to recruit participants. A semi‐structured questionnaire was used to record types of error, hospital and nurse backgrounds, patient consequences, error discovery mechanisms and reporting rates. Results. Eighty‐five nurses participated, reporting 328 administration errors (259 actual, 69 near misses). Most errors occurred in medical surgical wards of teaching hospitals, during day shifts, committed by nurses working fewer than two years. Leading errors were wrong drugs and doses, each accounting for about one‐third of total errors. Among 259 actual errors, 83·8% resulted in no adverse effects; among remaining 16·2%, 6·6% had mild consequences and 9·6% had serious consequences (severe reaction, coma, death). Actual errors and near misses were discovered mainly through double‐check procedures by colleagues and nurses responsible for errors; reporting rates were 62·5% (162/259) vs. 50·7% (35/69) and only 3·5% (9/259) vs. 0% (0/69) were disclosed to patients and families. High‐alert situations included administration of 15% KCl, insulin and Pitocin; using intravenous pumps; and implementation of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Conclusions. Snowball sampling proved to be an effective way to encourage nurses to release details concerning medication errors. Using empirical data, we identified high‐alert situations. Strategies for reducing drug administration errors by nurses are suggested. Relevance to clinical practice. Survey results suggest that nurses should double check medication administration in known high‐alert situations. Nursing management can use snowball sampling to gather error details from nurses in a non‐reprimanding atmosphere, helping to establish standard operational procedures for known high‐alert situations.     

Impact of rosiglitazone safety alerts on oral antidiabetic sales trends: a countrywide study in Portugal

Pharmacovigilance systems are important to monitor the safety of on‐market drugs after approval. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of rosiglitazone safety alerts on trends in the sale of rosiglitazone and other oral antidiabetic drugs. An ecological study was conducted, using temporally aggregated data and linking safety alerts to countrywide sales of all oral antidiabetic drugs in Portugal from January 2002 to December 2012. Sales figures for oral antidiabetic drugs marketed in Portugal were supplied by IMS Health Portugal with a breakdown by active substance and fixed combinations. The number of defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day (DIDs) of each oral antidiabetic drug sold to the estimated diabetic population using oral antidiabetic drugs in Portugal was calculated. Particular attention was paid to the case of rosiglitazone, with the results being adjusted for changes in rosiglitazone reimbursement policies. A total of four safety alerts were issued about rosiglitazone. Rosiglitazone sales registered an increase of 32.9% (0.202 DIDs; P < 0.001) after the first alert (risk of macular oedema or worsening of pre‐existent macular oedema) in January 2006. After subsequent alerts about cardiovascular risks, this trend was not, however, repeated and sales fell. Following the January 2006 and January 2008 safety alerts, rosiglitazone sales described a long‐term downward trend, with decreases of 3.75% (?0023 DIDs; P > 0.05) and 0.24% (?0.001 DIDs; P > 0.05), respectively. It is important to promote the dissemination and publication of drug safety alerts.     

Evaluation of drug interaction software to identify alerts for transplant medications

BACKGROUND: The ability of computerized physician order entry (CPOE) systems to identify clinically significant drug interactions is dependent upon the integrity of the drug information populating the software. A CPOE system with incomplete or inaccurate drug information will fail to identify clinically important drug interactions and, therefore, fail to reduce preventable adverse drug events (pADEs). OBJECTIVE: To evaluate, from the prescribers' perspective, the ability of a common drug interaction database to identify clinically important drug interactions involving drugs used in transplantation. METHODS: The clinical significance of drug interactions involving 5 transplant drugs was evaluated by an expert panel to determine whether alerts should be generated for physicians not involved in the transplant at the time of order entry. Drug interactions included in the analysis were generated from the expert panel, a common drug interaction database, and 2 standard drug interaction references. Responses on the clinical significance were used to calculate the sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values for each severity setting of a common electronic drug interaction database. RESULTS: Overall, the database failed to identify approximately 70% of interactions considered significant by the expert panel. Of the alerts that were generated, >85% were considered clinically significant. The database was most deficient in identifying interactions resulting from additive toxicity. CONCLUSIONS: To expect a decrease in pADEs caused by drug interactions, the information used to populate CPOE systems must be validated. Establishing consistency and integrity of this information may be a future role for pharmacists.     

Clinical implementation of systematic medication reconciliation and review as part of the Lund Integrated Medicines Management model – impact on all‐cause emergency department revisits

What is known and objective: Interventions involving medication reconciliation and review by clinical pharmacists can reduce drug‐related problems and improve therapeutic outcomes. The objective of this study was to examine the impact of routine admission medication reconciliation and inpatient medication review on emergency department (ED) revisits after discharge. Secondary outcomes included the combined rate of post‐discharge hospital revisits or death. Methods: This prospective, controlled study included all patients hospitalized in three internal medicine wards in a university hospital, between 1 January 2006 and 31 May 2008. Medication reconciliation on admission and inpatient medication review, conducted by clinical pharmacists in a multiprofessional team, were implemented in these wards at different times during 2007 and 2008 (intervention periods). A discharge medication reconciliation was undertaken in all the study wards, during both control and intervention periods. Patients were included in the intervention group (n = 1216) if they attended a ward with medication reconciliation and review, whether they had received the intervention or not. Control patients (n = 2758) attended the wards before implementation of the intervention. Results and Discussion: No impact of medication reconciliation and reviews on ED revisits [hazard ratio (HR), 0·95; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0·86–1·04]or event‐free survival (HR, 0·96; 95% CI, 0·88–1·04) was demonstrated. In the intervention group, 594 patients (48·8%) visited the ED, compared with 1416 (51·3%) control patients. In total, 716 intervention (58·9%) and 1688 (61·2%) control patients experienced any event (ED visit, hospitalization or death). Because the time to a subsequent ED visit was longer for the control as well as the intervention groups in 2007 than in 2006 (P < 0·05), we re‐examined this cohort of patients; the proportion of patients revisiting the ED was similar in both groups in 2007 (P = 0·608). What is new and conclusion: Routine implementation of medication reconciliation and reviews on admission and during the hospital stay did not appear to have any impact on ED revisits, re‐hospitalizations or mortality over 6‐month follow‐up.     

The mediating role of illness perceptions in psychological outcomes in overactive bladder

Overactive bladder (OAB) is condition, characterized by urinary urgency, frequency and incontinence, which has the potential to disrupt everyday life considerably. Although there is evidence that antimuscarinic treatment is effective at treating physical symptoms, there is currently no systematic exploration of psychological factors associated with OAB after treatment. This study aimed to examine the quality of life, relationships, sexual functioning, psychological wellbeing and illness perceptions of individuals with OAB after they have received treatment. And to determine whether an individual's psychological wellbeing is directly related to the severity of their symptoms, or whether their illness perceptions mediate this relationship. This study used a cross‐sectional, questionnaire‐based quantitative design with a secondary care outpatient sample who were diagnosed with OAB and had been either previously or currently prescribed drug treatment. Patients reported moderately severe OAB symptoms, with approximately a third reporting moderate/severe anxiety and 12% reporting severe depression. There was no direct relationship between symptom severity and psychological wellbeing (β = ?0·03, t(31) = ?0·96, p = 0·34; β = ?0·02, t(31) = ?0·41, p = 0·68) – this relationship was mediated by the patient's sense of personal control over their OAB (β = 0·03 (SE = 0·02), 95% CI [0·004, 0·09]; β = 0·02 (SE = 0·02), 95% CI [0·0008, 0·08]). Including interventions to improve personal control alongside drug treatment may improve treatment adherence and outcomes.     

Improving recognition of drug interactions: benefits and barriers to using automated drug alerts

BACKGROUND: Clinicians' perceptions about decision support systems may impact the effectiveness of these technologies. OBJECTIVE: To explore clinicians' baseline knowledge of common drug interactions and experiences with automated drug alerts within a provider order entry system as a means to better understand the potential benefits and barriers to using this technology. RESEARCH DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. SUBJECTS: The study population comprised 263 clinicians practicing within a Southern California Veterans Affairs health care system that used VA's Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS). Response rate was 64%. MEASURES: A 67-item survey (19 questions) was developed to elicit information including: (1) computer use for patient-related activities; (2) recognition of drug interactions; and (3) benefits and barriers to using automated drug alerts. RESULTS: Clinicians correctly categorized 44% (range 11-64%) of all drug-drug pairs, 53% of interacting combinations, and 54% of contraindicated pairs. Providers also correctly categorized 55% (range 24-87%) of 11 drug-disease pairs and 62% of interacting combinations, and 53% of contraindicated pairs. Nearly 90% of clinicians thought drug alerts would be helpful to identify interactions yet 55% of clinicians perceived that the most significant barrier to utilizing existing alerts was poor signal to noise ratio, meaning too many nonrelevant warnings. CONCLUSIONS: Automated drug interaction alerts have the potential to dramatically increase clinicians' recognition of selected drug interactions. However, perceived poor specificity of drug alerts may be an important obstacle to efficient utilization of information and may impede the ability of such alerts to improve patient safety.