The impact of a novel medication scanner on administration errors in the hospital setting: a before and after feasibility study.

OBJECTIVE: The medication administration process is complex and consequently prone to errors. Closed Loop Medication Administration solutions aim to improve patient safety. We assessed the impact of a novel medication scanning device (MedEye) on the rate of medication administration errors in a large UK Hospital. METHODS: We performed a feasibility before and after study on one ward at a tertiary-care teaching hospital that used a commercial electronic prescribing and medication administration system. We conducted direct observations of nursing drug administration rounds before and after the MedEye implementation. We calculated the rate and type ('timing', 'omission' or 'other' error) of medication administration errors (MAEs) before and after the MedEye implementation. RESULTS: We observed a total of 1069 administrations before and 432 after the MedEye intervention was implemented. Data suggested that MedEye could support a reduction in MAEs. After adjusting for heterogeneity, we detected a decreasing effect of MedEye on overall errors (p = 0.0753). Non-timing errors ('omission' and 'other' errors) reduced from 51 (4.77%) to 11 (2.55%), a reduction of 46.5%, which had borderline significance at the 5% level, although this was lost after adjusting for confounders. CONCLUSIONS: This pilot study detected a decreasing effect of MedEye on overall errors and a reduction in non-timing error rates that was clinically important as such errors are more likely to be associated with harm. Further research is needed to investigate the impact on a larger sample of medications.

Training new HCAs to give compassionate care.

In October 2013, Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals Foundation Trust set up an academy for all new healthcare assistants, to enable them to develop with the knowledge and skills to deliver compassionate and safe care. HCAs attend the academy before working in clinical practice. They complete knowledge packs in line with national minimum training standards during their probationary period. Evaluation showed that HCAs felt more confident to deliver clinical care after completing academy training.

How to recruit caring and compassionate HCAs.

Heathcare organisations are faced with the challenge of recruiting staff who have caring and compassionate values so need to ensure these can be identified at interview. We piloted multiple mini-interviews as a possible solution to recruiting healthcare assistants. This article outlines how these were implemented and highlights some of the pitfalls of using this approach. Although the work has not been evaluated formally we decided to share our early experiences of using this approach so others can learn from our practice.

Implementing structured preceptorship in an acute hospital.

The term preceptorship has been used in the NHS to describe newly registered practitioners' transition from novice to expert under the guidance of an experienced practitioner. This article describes the implementation of a preceptorship course in The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The course is based on the core dimensions of the NHS Knowledge and Skills Framework and has received academic accreditation from Northumbria University.