Impact of electronic prescription alerts on medication errors related to vitamin K antagonists in hospitalised patients. Issue 1 (18th July 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Vélez-Díaz-Pallarés, Manuel; Ruano, Margarita; Villamañán, Elena; Larrubia, Yolanda; Wagner, Erica; Herrero, Alicia
• Is Part Of: European journal of hospital pharmacy. Volume 21:Issue 1(2014)
• Page Start: 29
• Page End: 33
• Publication Date: 2013-07-18
• Subjects: CLINICAL PHARMACY -- MEDICAL ERRORS; Pharmacy -- Periodicals; Hospital pharmacies -- Periodicals; 615.1
• DOI: 10.1136/ejhpharm-2013-000308
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2047-9956

Abstract

Abstract : Objectives: To analyse the impact of the computerised prescription order entry (CPOE) alerts on the reduction of errors due to medication interactions in the prescribing process of vitamin K antagonists. Methods: Prospective study over 3 months in a 1400-bed university tertiary care centre gifted with CPOE software, which includes medication interaction alerts. Adult patients receiving oral anticoagulant treatment with vitamin K antagonists with international normalised ratio ≥4 were included. The reason for their hyperanticoagulation was evaluated. We analysed the impact of incorporating interactive alerts in the prescription of vitamin K antagonists in terms of reduction of medication errors by comparing results with a previous period with no interaction alerts incorporated in the software. The main outcome measure was medication errors. Results: Implementation of alerts reduced the number of medication errors caused by drug interactions by 71.4% (p=0.02). The number of errors diminished from 10.5 per month to 3 when interaction alerts were introduced. Conclusions: Implementation of a CPOE interaction alert programme reduces interaction errors. Additionally, the use of this new technology allowed us to perform a thorough analysis of data and to identify and implement actions aimed at improving patient safety.