How safe is primary care?

"Improving patient safety is at the forefront of policy and practice. While considerable progress has been made in understanding the frequency, causes and consequences of error in hospitals, less is known about the safety of primary care."

How safe is primary care? A systematic review
S Singh Panesar et al.
BMJ Qual Saf 2016;25:544-553 doi:10.1136/bmjqs-2015-004178

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Medication safety curriculum: enhancing skills and changing behaviors

"Students that participate in medication reconciliation/ optimization curricular activities are better prepared to critically assess medications for safety and efficacy in medical practice."

Medication safety curriculum: enhancing skills and changing behaviors
KD Karpa, LL Hom, P Huffman, EB Lehman, VM Chinchilli, P Haidet, SL Leong
BMC Medical Education (2015) 15:234

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Using league tables to reduce missed dose medication errors on mental healthcare of older people wards

"By greatly reducing the risk of patients experiencing adverse drug events as a result of missed doses, this project has given rise to a potential cost-saving of around £34,000 per year across the wards studied. "

Using league tables to reduce missed dose medication errors on mental healthcare of older people wards
A Cottney
BMJ Quality Improvement Reports 2015;4: doi:10.1136/bmjquality.u204237.w3567

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Improving Medication Administration Safety

"Ultimately, these findings affirm that nurse adherence to safe practices reduces medication administration (MA) errors. Although MA errors account for a minority of overall adverse drug events, they are typically not intercepted by other members of the healthcare team. Integrating these findings into evidence-based staffing considerations, nursing education and clinical practice competency validation has the potential to improve the quality, cost, and outcomes of MA."

Improving Medication Administration Safety: Using Naïve Observation to Assess Practice and Guide Improvements in Process and Outcomes
N Donaldson, C Aydin, M Fridman, M Fole
Journal for Healthcare Quality, 2014, 36: 58–68. doi: 10.1111/jhq.12090

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Collaborative pharmaceutical care in an Irish hospital

"PACT improved the quality and safety of prescribing for medical patients receiving acute hospital care: it reduced the prevalence of all medication error and potentially severe error; it improved the quality of prescribing in patients aged 65 years or older" 

Collaborative pharmaceutical care in an Irish hospital: uncontrolled before-after study
TC Grimes, E Deasy, A Allen, J O'Byrne, T Delaney, J Barragry, N Breslin, E Moloney, C Wall
BMJ Quality and Safety, 2014; 23: 574-583

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Are interventions to reduce interruptions and errors during medication administration effective?

"There is weak evidence of the effectiveness of interventions to significantly reduce interruption rates and very limited evidence of their effectiveness to reduce medication administration errors. Policy makers should proceed with great caution in implementing such interventions until controlled trials confirm their value." 

Are interventions to reduce interruptions and errors during medication administration effective?: a systematic review
MZ Raban, JI Westbrook
BMJ Quality and Safety, 2014; 23: 414-421

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Patient safety alerts to increase incident reporting

NHS England and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency have issued two patient safety alerts to improve incident reporting for medication errors and medical devices. They aim to improve data report quality and prompt the establishment of national networks of online learning which will work to improve communication and sharing of safe practice ideas in order to reduce harm.

Find out more and access the alerts with their supporting information here.

Computer technology may reduce medication errors

"Current policies to increase CPOE adoption and use will likely prevent millions of additional medication errors each year."

Reduction in medication errors in hospitals due to adoption of computerized provider order entry systems
DC Radley, MR Wasserman, LEW Olsho, SJ Shoemaker, MD Spranca, B Bradshaw
Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 2013, online first

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Levels of harm in primary care

"This research scan found that about 1–2% of primary care consultations may include adverse events, with the most common errors relating to medication and communication."


Evidence scan: levels of harm in primary care
The Health Foundation
November 2011

Read more here.