Resident and family engagement in medication management in aged care facilities: a systematic review.

Introduction: Medication-related harms may occur if residents and families are not involved when important medication decisions are made. We examined how residents and families engage in the management of residents' medications in aged care facilities.Areas covered: A systematic review was undertaken, which was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42020152700). Electronic databases were searched from inception until 27 August 2020 using MEDLINE/PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO and EMBASE. Data synthesis was undertaken using thematic analysis.Expert opinion: Forty studies were included. Communication tended to be unidirectional comprising consultations where residents and families provided medication information to health care providers or where health care providers provided medication information to residents and families. Many challenges prevailed that prevented effective engagement, including families' hesitation about making decisions, and the lack of adequately-trained health care providers. Testing of interventions often did not include residents or families in developing these interventions or in examining how they participated in medication decisions following implementation of interventions. Areas for improvement comprise actively involving residents and families in planning interventions for resident-centered care. Health care providers need to have greater appreciation of families' ability to detect dynamic changes in residents' behavior, which can be used to enable optimal alterations in medication therapy.

Medication error trends and effects of person-related, environment-related and communication-related factors on medication errors in a paediatric hospital.

AIM: This study aimed to examine reported medication error trends in an Australian paediatric hospital over a 5-year period and to determine the effects of person-related, environment-related and communication-related factors on the severity of medication outcomes. In particular, the focus was on the influence of changes to a hospital site and structure on the severity of medication errors. METHODS: A retrospective clinical audit was undertaken over a 5-year period of paediatric medication errors submitted to an online voluntary reporting system of an Australian, tertiary, public teaching paediatric hospital. All medication errors submitted to the online system between 1 July 2010 and 30 June 2015 were included. RESULTS: A total of 3340 medication errors was reported, which corresponded to 0.56% medication errors per combined admissions and presentations or 5.73 medication errors per 1000 bed days. The most common patient outcomes related to errors requiring monitoring or an intervention to ensure no harm occurred (n = 1631, 48.8%). A new hospital site and structure had 0.354 reduced odds of producing medication errors causing possible or probable harm (95% confidence interval 0.298-0.421, P < 0.0001). Patient and family involvement had 1.270 increased odds of identifying medication errors associated with possible or probable harm compared with those causing no harm (95% confidence interval 1.028-1.568, P = 0.027). Interrupted time series analyses showed that moving to a new hospital site and structure was associated with a reduction in reported medication errors. CONCLUSION: Encouraging child and family involvement, facilitating hospital redesign and improving communication could help to reduce the harm associated with medication errors.

Interdisciplinary medication decision making by pharmacists in pediatric hospital settings: An ethnographic study.

OBJECTIVE: Children are particularly vulnerable to experiencing medication incidents in hospitals. Making sound medication decisions is therefore of paramount importance. Prior research has principally described pharmacists' role in reducing medication errors. There is a dearth of information about pharmacists' interactions with pediatric hospital staff across disciplines in resolving medication issues. The aim of this study was to examine interdisciplinary medication decision making by pharmacists in pediatric hospital settings. DESIGN: An ethnographic design was undertaken comprising observations, semi-structured interviews and focus groups. Audio-recorded data were analyzed thematically. SETTING: The study was conducted in three wards of an Australian pediatric tertiary teaching hospital, comprising general surgical, gastroenterology, endocrinology, neurology, adolescent and rehabilitation settings. PARTICIPANTS: Pharmacists, registered nurses and doctors were recruited from diverse clinical wards following information sessions. RESULTS: Pharmacists were central to complex pediatric medication decision making, intervening about dosage, administration, drug interactions and authorities. Pharmacists proactively contacted doctors and nurses about prescribing issues; conversely, staff routinely approached pharmacists for medication advice. Pharmacists were perceived as medication experts, their extensive knowledge valued in resolving complex issues: when off-label medications were prescribed, when protocols were absent or ambiguous, where tension existed between protocol adherence and patient safety, and where patients on multiple medications were at risk of medication error. Pharmacists had strong relationships with doctors and nurses, which had a bearing on pharmacists' input in interventions. Furthermore, pharmacists identified prescribing errors through strategies, such as case note review and medication reconciliation, although the lack of emergency department pharmacists and limited after-hours staffing posed challenges to both strategies. CONCLUSIONS: Pharmacists made a substantial and highly valued contribution to pediatric inter-professional medication decision making. These results provide new knowledge that informs theoretical developments of pharmacists' role in decision making.

Medication communication between nurses and doctors for paediatric acute care: An ethnographic study.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To examine how communication between nurses and doctors occurred for managing medications in inpatient paediatric settings. BACKGROUND: Communication between health professionals influences medication incidents' occurrence and safe care. DESIGN: An ethnographic study was undertaken. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews, observations and focus groups were conducted in three clinical areas of an Australian tertiary paediatric hospital. Data were transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed using the Medication Communication Model. RESULTS: The actual communication act revealed health professionals' commitment to effective medication management and the influence of professional identities on medication communication. Nurses and doctors were dedicated to providing safe, effective medication therapy for children, within their scope of practice and perceived role responsibilities. Most nurses and junior doctors used tentative language in their communication while senior doctors tended to use direct language. Irrespective of language style, nurses actively engaged with doctors to promote patients' needs. Yet, the medical hierarchical structure, staffing and attendant expectations influenced communication for medication management, causing frustration among nurses and doctors. Doctors' lack of verbal communication of documented changes to medication orders particularly troubled nurses. Nurses persisted in their efforts to acquire appropriate orders for safe medication administration to paediatric patients. CONCLUSIONS: Collaborative practice between nurses and doctors involved complex, symbiotic relationships. Their dedication to providing safe medication therapy to paediatric patients facilitated effective medication management. At times, shortcomings in interdisciplinary communication impacted on potential and actual medication incidents. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Understanding of the complexities affecting medication communication between nurses and doctors helps to ensure interprofessional respect for each other's roles and inherent demands. Interdisciplinary education delivered in healthcare organisations would facilitate greater clarity in communication related to medications. Encouraging the use of concise, clear words in communication would help to promote improved understanding between parties, and accuracy and efficacy of medication management.

Nursing students' belongingness and workplace satisfaction: Quantitative findings of a mixed methods study.

BACKGROUND: The relationship between nursing students' belongingness and workplace satisfaction has received limited attention in the literature to date. AIM: The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between, and factors that may influence final semester nursing students' need to belong, sense of belonging and workplace satisfaction while on clinical placements. METHODS: A cross-national longitudinal multiphase explanatory sequential mixed methods study underpinned by a pragmatic theoretical framework was used for this study. A convenience sample of third-year nursing students from two Australian and one Canadian university (n=468) were recruited. Participants were asked to complete a 62 item survey which was a composite of three previously validated surveys: the 10 item 'Need to Belong Scale', the 34 item 'Belongingness Scale: Clinical Placement Experience (BES:CPE)' and the 18 item 'Nursing Workplace Satisfaction Questionnaire'. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. RESULTS: Key results indicated that participants wanted to have someone to turn to, and to be accepted; they found nursing work interesting and considered it worthwhile to make an effort in this meaningful job. Participants were usually comfortable to ask for and accept help but many felt discriminated against during clinical placements. Only belongingness was strongly correlated with workplace satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: Irrespective of site, nursing students' satisfied sense of belonging influenced their workplace satisfaction while on clinical placements. Workplace satisfaction is a key determinant of career decisions and the results from this study have the potential to inform clinical placement practices and policies and to influence beginning nurses' decisions to continue in the profession.

Difficulties with assessment and management of an infant's distress in the postoperative period: Optimising opportunities for interdisciplinary information-sharing.

OBJECTIVES: The importance of accurate paediatric patient assessment is well established but under-utilised in managing postoperative medication regimens. METHODS: Data for this case report were collected through observations of clinical practice, conduct of interviews, and retrieval of information from the medical record. This case report involving a hospitalised 1-year-old boy demonstrates the difficulties associated with assessing and managing postoperative distress, including pain and other clinical conditions related to the surgical procedure. RESULTS: Postoperatively, there were difficulties in managing pain and an episode of over-sedation, occasioning opiate reversal with naloxone. In addition, he had decreasing oxygen saturation and increased work of breathing. X-ray showed changes consistent with either atelectasis or aspiration, and he was commenced on antibiotics. The patient experienced respiratory distress and required intervention from the medical emergency team. CONCLUSION: This case demonstrated the importance of comprehensive assessment and careful consideration of alternative causes of an infant's distress using the results of assessment tools to aid decision-making. Communication moderates effective patient care, and more favourable outcomes could be achieved by optimising interdisciplinary information-sharing.

Interventions to reduce medication errors in pediatric intensive care.

OBJECTIVE: To systematically examine the research literature to identify which interventions reduce medication errors in pediatric intensive care units. DATA SOURCES: Databases were searched from inception to April 2014. STUDY SELECTION AND DATA EXTRACTION: Studies were included if they involved the conduct of an intervention with the intent of reducing medication errors. DATA SYNTHESIS: In all, 34 relevant articles were identified. Apart from 1 study, all involved single-arm, before-and-after designs without a comparative, concurrent control group. A total of 6 types of interventions were utilized: computerized physician order entry (CPOE), intravenous systems (ISs), modes of education (MEs), protocols and guidelines (PGs), pharmacist involvement (PI), and support systems for clinical decision making (SSCDs). Statistically significant reductions in medication errors were achieved in 7/8 studies for CPOE, 2/5 studies for ISs, 9/11 studies for MEs, 1/2 studies for PGs, 2/3 studies for PI, and 3/5 studies for SSCDs. The test for subgroup differences showed that there was no statistically significant difference among the 6 subgroups of interventions, χ(2)(5) = 1.88, P = 0.87. The following risk ratio results for meta-analysis were obtained: CPOE: 0.47 (95% CI = 0.28, 0.79); IS: 0.37 (95% CI = 0.19, 0.73); ME: 0.36 (95% CI = 0.22, 0.58); PG: 0.82 (95% CI = 0.21, 3.25); PI: 0.39 (95% CI = 0.10, 1.51), and SSCD: 0.49 (95% CI = 0.23, 1.03). CONCLUSIONS: Available evidence suggests some aspects of CPOE with decision support, ME, and IS may help in reducing medication errors. Good quality, prospective, observational studies are needed for institutions to determine the most effective interventions.