TY - JOUR
T1 - Complex automated medication systems reduce medication administration errors in a Danish acute medical unit
AU - Risør, Bettina Wulff
AU - Lisby, Marianne
AU - Sørensen, Jan
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2018.
PY - 2018/7/1
Y1 - 2018/7/1
N2 - Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of two automated medication systems in reducing medication administration errors. Design: The study was a controlled before-and-after study and included three observation periods with collection of data during a 3-week period as initial baseline and two subsequent follow-up periods at 10 and 20 months. Setting: The study was conducted in two Danish acute medical units. Interventions: Two automated medication systems were implemented: (i) a complex automated medication system (cAMS) consisting of an automated dispensing cabinet, automated unit-dose dispensing and barcode medication administration (BCMA) and (ii) a non-patient-specific automated medication system (npsAMS) consisting of automated unit-dose dispensing and BCMA. Main outcome measure: The occurrence of administration errors and sub-types; procedural and clinical errors were observed. The proportion of errors was calculated by dividing the number of doses with one or more errors with the number of opportunities for errors. Difference-in-difference analysis using logistic regression was used to assess changes in proportion of errors. Results: Compared with control, the cAMS reduced the overall risk of administration errors in the intervention unit, (odds ratio (OR) 0.53; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.27-0.90) and procedural errors were significantly reduced as well (OR 0.44; 95% CI 0.126-0.94). The npsAMS effectively reduced the clinical errors in the intervention ward (OR 0.38; 95% CI 0.15-0.96). Conclusions: In line with previous research, this study found that technological interventions in the medication administration process could reduce the occurrence of medication errors.
AB - Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of two automated medication systems in reducing medication administration errors. Design: The study was a controlled before-and-after study and included three observation periods with collection of data during a 3-week period as initial baseline and two subsequent follow-up periods at 10 and 20 months. Setting: The study was conducted in two Danish acute medical units. Interventions: Two automated medication systems were implemented: (i) a complex automated medication system (cAMS) consisting of an automated dispensing cabinet, automated unit-dose dispensing and barcode medication administration (BCMA) and (ii) a non-patient-specific automated medication system (npsAMS) consisting of automated unit-dose dispensing and BCMA. Main outcome measure: The occurrence of administration errors and sub-types; procedural and clinical errors were observed. The proportion of errors was calculated by dividing the number of doses with one or more errors with the number of opportunities for errors. Difference-in-difference analysis using logistic regression was used to assess changes in proportion of errors. Results: Compared with control, the cAMS reduced the overall risk of administration errors in the intervention unit, (odds ratio (OR) 0.53; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.27-0.90) and procedural errors were significantly reduced as well (OR 0.44; 95% CI 0.126-0.94). The npsAMS effectively reduced the clinical errors in the intervention ward (OR 0.38; 95% CI 0.15-0.96). Conclusions: In line with previous research, this study found that technological interventions in the medication administration process could reduce the occurrence of medication errors.
KW - Automated dispensing
KW - Automated dispensing cabinet
KW - Automated medication system
KW - Barcode assisted medication administration
KW - Medication administration
KW - Medication errors
KW - Patient safety
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85055637301&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/intqhc/mzy042
DO - 10.1093/intqhc/mzy042
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 29590354
AN - SCOPUS:85055637301
SN - 1353-4505
VL - 30
SP - 457
EP - 465
JO - International Journal for Quality in Health Care
JF - International Journal for Quality in Health Care
IS - 6
ER -