FIGURE 6
Total dose omissions (ED and first 24 hours of base ward admission)
Pharmacist
Number
Total due
Total
Total
Total
% doses
% doses
of patients
on time
delayed
omitted
omitted
omitted
Intervention
or delayed
No 70 407 265 36 106 26.0*
34.9*
Yes 19 105
96 5 4 3.8*
8.6*
Total 89 512 361 41 110 21.5 29.5
*p<0.05
FIGURE 7
Total dose omissions within first 24 hours of admission (excluding ED stay)
Pharmacist
Number
Total due
Total
Total
Total
% doses
% doses
of patients
on time
delayed
omitted
omitted
omitted
Intervention
or delayed
No 20 74 57 6 12 16.2*
24.3*
Yes 69 307
255
17 35 11.4*
16.9*
Total 89 381
312
22 47 12.3
18.1
*p>0.05
Medication prescribing errors were detected in
a total of 16 cases where APMs were prescribed in
the ED. These errors related to inappropriate
dose, frequency or formulation of the medication.
A further four of these cases that had pharmacist
intervention had errors corrected immediately,
with patients not receiving any incorrect doses.
Discussion
The results demonstrate the potential impact of
a consistent pharmacy presence on this high-risk
population of patients. Furthermore, these
findings lend weight to previous studies
highlighting EDs as high-risk environments.
Lastly, clear risk has been identified of patients
deteriorating from baseline as a result of delayed
medicines reconciliation within ED.
Baseline demographics and admissions
A total of 151 patients were identified and
analysed who suffered from PD throughout the
two-month study period. Of these, 89 (58.9%)
required inpatient admission. This figure more
than doubles the approximate average percentage
internally of all patients who require inpatient
treatment (26%). The average age of
approximately 80, reflects a considerably older
population of patients suffering from PD.
This finding is generally consistent with
literature, considering patients suffering from PD
FIGURE 8
Total length of inpatient stay vs percentage of doses missed
in ED and the first 24 hours of inpatient admission
% dose omitted % doses omitted or delayed
Linear (% doses omitted)
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
<24 hours
1-3 days
4-7 days
1-2 weeks
2-4 weeks
1-2 months
18
HHE 2019 | hospitalhealthcare.com
2 months+
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0