Background. Failure of continuity at care transitions results in 50% of all medication errors and up to 20% of adverse drug events (ADEs). In surgical patients medication errors occur more often than in medical patients due to perioperative corrections of medications and greater number of in-hospital transitions. The frequency of ADE in surgical patients varies from 2.3 to 27.7%. Aims to determine the prevalence and structure of unintentional discrepancies (UDs) in medications at admission to and discharge from surgery departments, report their potential clinical impact and analyse possible risk factors. Methods. Retrospective observational study was conducted in a general hospital in Russia. The study included patients hospitalized for elective surgery in Surgical Departments from January to June 2019. The pre-admission Best Possible Medication History (BPMH) for every patient was obtained. The BPMHs were compared with admission medication orders and hospital discharge prescriptions to identify UDs. Detected UDs were analysed for potential ADE with severity evaluation. Results. 206 patients were included, 55.83% were female, mean age 63.85 (9.38), median of chronic medications was 3 drugs. At least one UD was detected in 70.87% of patients at admission and in 92.72% at discharge, respectively, with averages of 1.30 and 2.81 discrepancies per patient. Cardiovascular drugs were the most frequent class involved at both admission (72.2%) and discharge (68.05%) in UDs. The most often UDs at both admission (51.68%) and discharge (94.65%) were omissions, incorrect dose (22.47% and 2.25%), and additional medications (11.6% and 1.55%). UDs had the potential to cause significant ADEs in 81.27%, serious ADEs in 18.35% of cases. Only 0.37% of UDs could contribute to life-threatening ADEs. The relative risk of discrepancies in patients of 60 years and older was 1.292-fold higher; three and more chronic medications increase risk 1.565-fold; diabetic or thyroid medications increase risk 1.932-fold. Conclusions. We reported on the first study of medication discrepancies conducted in Russian hospital. Estimated frequency, structure and risk factors of UDs in medications at admission to and discharge from surgery departments are similar to those from other countries. To decrease UDs in medications, implementation of medication reconciliation is needed.
Background: Physicians adherence to recommendations for appropriate antithrombotic therapy of venous thromboembolism (VTE) can reduce the risk of recurrent VTE, pulmonary hypertension, bleeding and other adverse events. Clinical decision support systems (CDSS) are shown to increase physicians adherence to clinical guidelines. Aims: To assess effectivenes and safety of CDSS for anticoagulant prescribing for inhospital patients with VTE. Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted in a Moscow general hospital from 06.30.2017 to 06.23.2018 to compare physicians compliance with clinical guidelines for DVT anticoagulant therapy, the rate of drug errors and direct costs of anticoagulant therapy before and after CDSS implementation (55 patients in control group and 49 in experimental group). Results: The rate of anticoagulant prescribing for patients with DVT did not alter significantly after CDSS implementation (96% compared with 91% before CDSS), but physicians compliance with recommendations on anticoagulant dosage increased from 32.7% to 73.5% (p = 0.0003) with corresponding decrease in the rate of anticoagulant prescribing errors from 1.35 to 0.65 per 1 patient (p = 0.0005). The length of stay and hemorrhagic complication rate did not differ between control and experimental groups. LMWH replacement with new oral anticoagulants has reduced the cost of anticoagulant therapy for 1 patient from 11.800 rubles (IQR = 7000) to 5.430 rubles (IQR = 5700) (p 0.005). Conclusions: СDSS can increase physicians adherence to recommended anticoagulant therapy for patients with DVT: to prevent unreasonable under-/overdosing or prolongation of anticoagulant therapy. CDSS for DVT drug therapy can be economically feasible.
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