Prevalence, nature and risk factors for medication administration omissions in English NHS hospital inpatients: a retrospective multicentre study using Medication Safety Thermometer data.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence, nature and predictors of patients having medication administration omissions in hospitals. METHODS: All medication administration omissions data collected using the standardised methodology of the Medication Safety Thermometer in January 2015 were examined. Hospital inpatients prescribed at least one medication were included in the analysis. Multilevel logistic regression models ascertained the effects of patients' gender, age, number of prescribed medicines, ward specialty and medicines reconciliation initiation status on the likelihood of having omissions. Valid clinical reasons (VCRs) were excluded from regression models. A sensitivity analysis, excluding patient refusal (PR) omissions, was also conducted. RESULTS: The final study sample included 5708 patients from 320 wards in 37 hospitals. Excluding VCRs, 30% of patients had medication administration omissions (95% CI 29 to 30). Approximately half of patients with omissions had refused medicines (51%, 95% CI 49 to 53). Univariable analysis suggested that all variables were significantly associated with omissions. However, in the multivariable model, significant differences were only observed regarding the numbers of medicines patients were prescribed and their ward specialty. Patients prescribed more than 20 medications were approximately five times more likely to have had omissions than patients prescribed one to four medications (OR 4.99, 95% CI 3.22 to 7.73). Patients on surgical wards were also more likely to have had omissions than those on medical wards (OR 1.58, 95% CI 1.14 to 2.18, p=0.006), but there was no significant difference when PRs were excluded (OR 0.5, 95% CI 0.27 to 1.22, p=0.473). CONCLUSION: Medication administration omissions are a substantial problem that affect many hospital patients, and certain patient groups are at higher risk. Specific interventions are required targeting the underlying reasons for medication omissions for different patient subgroups.

A formative evaluation of the implementation of a medication safety data collection tool in English healthcare settings: A qualitative interview study using normalisation process theory.

BACKGROUND: Reducing medication-related harm is a global priority; however, impetus for improvement is impeded as routine medication safety data are seldom available. Therefore, the Medication Safety Thermometer was developed within England's National Health Service. This study aimed to explore the implementation of the tool into routine practice from users' perspectives. METHOD: Fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with purposely sampled National Health Service staff from primary and secondary care settings. Interview data were analysed using an initial thematic analysis, and subsequent analysis using Normalisation Process Theory. RESULTS: Secondary care staff understood that the Medication Safety Thermometer's purpose was to measure medication safety and improvement. However, other uses were reported, such as pinpointing poor practice. Confusion about its purpose existed in primary care, despite further training, suggesting unsuitability of the tool. Decreased engagement was displayed by staff less involved with medication use, who displayed less ownership. Nonetheless, these advocates often lacked support from management and frontline levels, leading to an overall lack of engagement. Many participants reported efforts to drive scale-up of the use of the tool, for example, by securing funding, despite uncertainty around how to use data. Successful improvement was often at ward-level and went unrecognised within the wider organisation. There was mixed feedback regarding the value of the tool, often due to a perceived lack of "capacity". However, participants demonstrated interest in learning how to use their data and unexpected applications of data were reported. CONCLUSION: Routine medication safety data collection is complex, but achievable and facilitates improvements. However, collected data must be analysed, understood and used for further work to achieve improvement, which often does not happen. The national roll-out of the tool has accelerated shared learning; however, a number of difficulties still exist, particularly in primary care settings, where a different approach is likely to be required.

Learning from the design, development and implementation of the Medication Safety Thermometer.

QUALITY ISSUE: Approximately 10% of patients are harmed by healthcare, and of this harm 15% is thought to be medication related. Despite this, medication safety data used for improvement purposes are not often routinely collected by healthcare organizations over time. INITIAL ASSESSMENT: A need for a prospective medication safety measurement tool was identified. CHOICE OF SOLUTION: The aim was to develop a tool to allow measurement and aid improvement of medication safety over time. The methodology used for the National Health Service (NHS) Safety Thermometer was identified as an approach. The resulting tool was named the 'Medication Safety Thermometer'. IMPLEMENTATION: The development of the Medication Safety Thermometer was facilitated by a multidisciplinary steering group using a Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) method. Alpha and beta testing occurred over a period of 9 months. The tool was officially launched in October 2013 and continued to be improved until May 2016 using ongoing user feedback. EVALUATION: Feedback was gained through paper and online forms, and was discussed at regular steering group meetings. This resulted in 16 versions of the tool. The tool is now used nationally, with over 230 000 patients surveyed in over 100 NHS organizations. Data from these organizations are openly accessible on a dedicated website. LESSONS LEARNED: Measuring harm from medication errors is complex and requires steps to measure individual errors, triggers of harm and actual harm. PDSA methodology can be effectively used to develop measurement systems. Measurement at the point of care is beneficial and a multidisciplinary approach is vital.