BACKGROUND: Patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) have complex problems and experience many medical errors. Currently, little is known about the measurement of medication errors and adverse drug events in Canadian ICUs. OBJECTIVE: To investigate methods of measuring medication errors and adverse drug events in ICUs in Canada. METHODS: A questionnaire was constructed and uploaded to an online survey tool, SurveyMonkey. Through the mailing list software of the Critical Care Pharmacy Specialty Network of the Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists, the survey was sent by e-mail to 146 pharmacists working in 79 ICUs across Canada; 2 reminder e-mails followed. The survey was open from July 18 to September 18, 2007. RESULTS: A total of 34 individual responses were received from 31 (39%) of the 79 ICUs. Responses were from academic hospitals (11/31 [35%]), community teaching hospitals (9/31 [29%]), and community nonteaching hospitals (11/31 [35%]). Twenty-six (84%) of the 31 responding ICUs had a process for tracking medication errors and adverse drug events: non-anonymous voluntary reporting (19 or 73%), direct observation (14 or 54%), anonymous voluntary reporting (12 or 46%), chart review (6 or 23%), computerized system (3 or 12%), trigger tools (2 or 8%), pharmacist intervention (2 or 8%), and weekly ICU "safety huddles" (1 or 4%). Fourteen (54%) of the 26 ICUs that had a method of measuring medication errors and adverse drug events had implemented changes to address identified problems. CONCLUSIONS: Most respondents were measuring the frequency of medication errors and adverse drug events, but a wide variety of methods were in use. Only about half of the ICUs had implemented changes as a result of these measurements. There is an opportunity to improve standardization of the measurement of medication errors and adverse drug events in Canadian ICUs.
BACKGROUND:Patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) have complex problems and experience many medical errors. Currently, little is known about the measurement of medication errors and adverse drug events in Canadian ICUs. OBJECTIVE: To investigate methods of measuring medication errors and adverse drug events in ICUs in Canada. METHODS: A questionnaire was constructed and uploaded to an online survey tool, SurveyMonkey. Through the mailing list software of the Critical Care Pharmacy Specialty Network of the Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists, the survey was sent by e-mail to 146 pharmacists working in 79 ICUs across Canada; 2 reminder e-mails followed. The survey was open from July 18 to September 18, 2007. RESULTS: A total of 34 individual responses were received from 31 (39%) of the 79 ICUs. Responses were from academic hospitals (11/31 [35%]), community teaching hospitals (9/31 [29%]), and community nonteaching hospitals (11/31 [35%]). Twenty-six (84%) of the 31 responding ICUs had a process for tracking medication errors and adverse drug events: non-anonymous voluntary reporting (19 or 73%), direct observation (14 or 54%), anonymous voluntary reporting (12 or 46%), chart review (6 or 23%), computerized system (3 or 12%), trigger tools (2 or 8%), pharmacist intervention (2 or 8%), and weekly ICU "safety huddles" (1 or 4%). Fourteen (54%) of the 26 ICUs that had a method of measuring medication errors and adverse drug events had implemented changes to address identified problems. CONCLUSIONS: Most respondents were measuring the frequency of medication errors and adverse drug events, but a wide variety of methods were in use. Only about half of the ICUs had implemented changes as a result of these measurements. There is an opportunity to improve standardization of the measurement of medication errors and adverse drug events in Canadian ICUs.
Authors: Laura K Barger; Brian E Cade; Najib T Ayas; John W Cronin; Bernard Rosner; Frank E Speizer; Charles A Czeisler Journal: N Engl J Med Date: 2005-01-13 Impact factor: 91.245
Authors: A K Jha; G J Kuperman; J M Teich; L Leape; B Shea; E Rittenberg; E Burdick; D L Seger; M Vander Vliet; D W Bates Journal: J Am Med Inform Assoc Date: 1998 May-Jun Impact factor: 4.497
Authors: Jeffrey M Rothschild; Christopher P Landrigan; John W Cronin; Rainu Kaushal; Steven W Lockley; Elisabeth Burdick; Peter H Stone; Craig M Lilly; Joel T Katz; Charles A Czeisler; David W Bates Journal: Crit Care Med Date: 2005-08 Impact factor: 7.598
Authors: Sangeeta Mehta; Lisa Burry; Sandra Fischer; J Carlos Martinez-Motta; David Hallett; Dennis Bowman; Cindy Wong; Maureen O Meade; Thomas E Stewart; Deborah J Cook Journal: Crit Care Med Date: 2006-02 Impact factor: 7.598
Authors: G Ross Baker; Peter G Norton; Virginia Flintoft; Régis Blais; Adalsteinn Brown; Jafna Cox; Ed Etchells; William A Ghali; Philip Hébert; Sumit R Majumdar; Maeve O'Beirne; Luz Palacios-Derflingher; Robert J Reid; Sam Sheps; Robyn Tamblyn Journal: CMAJ Date: 2004-05-25 Impact factor: 8.262