The nuts and bolts of pills and potions: the functions of a drug safety working group

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Contents Vol 35(4)

doi:10.1071/AH09863

Journal of the Australian Healthcare & Hospitals Association

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ANZ Health Policy

Open access content from the Australia and New Zealand Health Policy journal is now available.

The nuts and bolts of pills and potions: the functions of a drug safety working group

Noleen S. Nath ^A ^C, Ellen H. Jones ^A, Peter Stride ^A ^B, Manuja Premaratne ^A, Darshit Thaker ^A and Ivan Lim ^A

^A Redcliffe Hospital, Anzac Avenue, Redcliffe, QLD 4020, Australia. Emails: ellen_h_jones@health.qld.gov.au; manuja_premaratne@health.qld.gov.au; darshit_thaker@health.qld.gov.au; ivan_lim@health.qld.gov.au
^B University of Queensland, School of Medicine, Redcliffe Hospital, Locked Bag 1, Redcliffe, QLD 4020, Australia. Email: peter_stride@health.qld.gov.au
^C Corresponding author. Email: noleen_nath@health.qld.gov.au

Australian Health Review 35(4) 395-398 http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/AH09863
Submitted: 7 December 2009 Accepted: 7 November 2010 Published: 6 September 2011





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Abstract

Hospitalised patients commonly experience adverse drug events (ADEs) and medication errors. Runciman reported that ADEs in hospitals account for 20% of reported adverse events and contribute to 27% of deaths where death followed an adverse event. Hughes recommends multidisciplinary hospital drug committees to assess performance and raise standards. The new Code of Conduct of the Medical Board of Australia recommends participation in systems for surveillance and monitoring of adverse events, and to improve patient safety. We describe the functions and role of a Drug Safety Working Group (DSWG) in a suburban hospital, which aims to audit and promote a culture of prescribing and medication administration that is prudent and cautious to minimise the risk of harm to patients. We believe that regular prescription monitoring and feedback to Resident Medical Officers (RMOs) improves medication management in our hospital.

What is known about the topic? Adverse drug events are common, leading to increased patient dissatisfaction, increased hospital morbidity and mortality, and increased costs. There is extensive medical literature on the problems of individual drugs, and global information of ADEs in healthcare, but little information for local solutions.

What does this paper add? This paper details our experience and methods of running a drug safety working group (DSWG) in a suburban hospital. We strongly believe in a multidisciplinary committee, with feedback to RMOs given by their peer group. This ‘how we do it’ approach is largely absent from medical journals.

What are the implications for practitioners? We strive for safer prescribing in our environment and hope to develop for inter-hospital benchmarking with other hospital DSWGs of clearly similar data, with an aim to raise state or nationwide standards.

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