Patient safety
The NHS and the patient safety agenda
Dipak Duggaldiscusses the challenges posed by human factors that can lead to medication errors and argues that technology is vital to reduce the risk of harm. Rather than asking ‘how can we afford to do this?’, should the question be ‘how can we afford not to do this?’
Every year, 237 million medication errors occur in the NHS.1
These inaccuracies could be
brought on by a variety of factors, including the exhaustion of healthcare professionals, misinformation, staff shortages, or suboptimal training.2
Despite all of the pressures currently
affecting the NHS, it is critical to continue prioritising patient safety, preventing medication errors and supporting a high quality of NHS care. Medication management has become highly significant on a national scale and the use of automated solutions has the potential to prevent medication errors, which are an avoidable occurrence. While errors can be made at every stage of the medication use process, a study revealed that the prescribing (51.6%), administration (92.4%) and dispensing (16.4%)i steps had the highest rates of error causing mild to severe harm. For healthcare professionals, managing risks and ensuring patient safety are top priorities.3
The efficacy
of the current procedures must be improved to support delivery of safe care, and staff support systems are crucial. Human factors, system-based issues, and
technical design can all affect the risk of errors occurring. Staff shortages are one of the most important problems, though. Current capacity is under substantial strain due to staff shortages on the general wards or in the ICU, which were made worse by the pandemic. NHS England is reportedly experiencing its worst staffing crisis ever as a result of a shortfall of 12,000 hospital doctors and more than 50,000 nurses and midwives, according to a recent report4
from
the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee. Automation can help to bridge this gap as healthcare systems work to increase efficiency and fill these positions. HCPs can refocus some of their attention on treating patients by automating time-consuming operational and admin processes like medicines stock management and documentation. Automating key pharmacy operations is a promising method for hospital pharmacy practice in the future.
Modelling what good looks like WHO’s Global Patient Safety Action Plan was adopted by Seventy-Fourth World Health Assembly in 2021, striving to eliminate avoidable harm in healthcare with a vision of “a world in which no one is harmed in healthcare, and every patient receives safe and respectful care, every time, everywhere”. Cleveland Clinic London is an example of a site bringing a fully closed loop connected medication management system to the UK, being one of the first of its kind with medication barcoding and checks at the bedside.
It gives both patients and HCPs reassurance
to know that the correct medications are being given to the correct patient at the correct time, through the right route and dose with all the documentation records updated in real time (the Five Rs).5
This is being realised through
a barcode guided journey of all unit doses from dispensing to the bedside. In addition to ensuring a tight control over any potential medication errors, these digitalised systems can also support reduction of medication waste and improve operational and financial efficiencies. The process of creating, editing, reviewing, and/or transmitting a prescription for medication from a doctor to a pharmacist is
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known as electronic prescribing. E-prescribing, which takes the place of handwritten prescriptions and drug charts, improves patient safety, saves lives, and reduces costs by getting rid of manual processes’ inefficiencies. This is accomplished by automating the data transmission process and providing clinical decision support at the time of care.6
The
entire medication management system – from stock receipt through to unit dose packing to transportation, storage, and administration – is paperless. The Cleveland Clinic is an illustration of how
automation and electronic prescribing work together to build confidence on a human level. “I am very proud to say that we have successfully delivered this very ambitious model across the entire hospital. Although digital transformation comes with an ongoing optimisation need, we have maintained significantly low level of bedside medication administration errors, which has instilled confidence throughout the care continuum at Cleveland Clinic London. A great start to our value realisation journey,” says Francine de Stoppelaar, Director of Pharmacy. Staff members can minimise the margin for medication error, improve patient safety,
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