14 DAY TRIAL // According to the conclusions of a new study, it would appear that the number of medication mistakes usually being done by doctors in psychiatric hospitals can easily be reduced through the implementation of a computerized systems.
This electronic prescription drug ordering system could then be coupled with an automated system of reporting such incidents. The new work suggests this combined approach could help reduce the number of instances when patients take the wrong drugs for their conditions.
There are multiple reasons that lead to medication errors, experts reveal. They include misinterpretation of the actual order, fatigue among caregivers, administration errors, mistakes made at the pharmacy, and even illegible handwriting by doctors giving away the prescription.
Most commonly, this results in the patients getting another drug than what their physician ordered. Often, they get different doses of the correct drug, which also have a detrimental effect on their health.
“Medication errors are a leading cause of adverse events in hospitals. With the use of electronic ordering, training of personnel and standardized information technology systems, it is possible to eliminate dangerous medication errors,” says Geetha Javaram, MD, MBA.
The expert, who is also the leader of the new study, holds an appointment as an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) School of Medicine.
During the study, the computerized method was applied to the psychiatric unit of the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, which features a total of 88 beds. The investigation lasted from 2003 to 2007.
Whereas, at the beginning of the study, doctors had a medication error rate of 27.89 per 1,000 patient days, that rate dropped consistently over the years to 3.43 per 1,000 patient days in 2007.
“Having something typed eliminates bad writing – and most errors – immediately. It’s a good reason for going electronic,” says the team leader, quoted by PsychCentral. No medication error in the new study caused death or permanent harm.
The JHU team published details of its computerized approach to prescribing psychiatric drugs in a paper published in the March issue of the esteemed Journal of Psychiatric Practice.
According to the experts, usually medication errors in the psychiatry ward do not kill patients, due to the nature of the substances involved. But the situation changes when people who also suffer from other conditions are brought in.
Patients who take blood thinners or insulin can die if the wrong drug is administered to them in the wrong dose, experts add. “You have to be vigilant for new problems that might come up,” Javaram concludes.