Abstract
Aim: The study aims to determine the impact of a quality improvement intervention on how accurately and suitably medicines are supplied to residents of residential aged-care facilities (RACFs).
Methods: Between September 2012 and January 2013, pharmacy-supplied dose administration aids (DAAs) were audited at 45 Victorian RACFs (Australia). RACFs had previously received an intervention (education session/toolkit) and were involved in an earlier DAA audit. Recently supplied DAAs containing regular medicines were compared to prescriber-prepared medicine charts to identify, and classify risks of, inaccurate or unsuitable packing incidents.
Results: Of 2389 DAAs audited for 983 residents, 770 incidents in 502 DAAs were identified. The overall DAA incident rate increased significantly from 11.5% pre-intervention to 21.0% post-intervention (P <0.001). The proportion of DAAs affected by incidents classified as ‘insignificant’ or ‘minor’ risk increased post-intervention (P <0.001).
Conclusions: Further wide-scale evaluation of RACF medicine supply services is needed. Interventions that are effective in reducing DAA incidents should be explored.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | E1-E6 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Australasian Journal on Ageing |
| Volume | 35 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jun 2016 |
Keywords
- delivery of health care
- home for the older people
- medication error
- medicine
