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EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT PHARMACY ROTATION, WHAT IS A PHARMACY RESIDENT DOING HERE?

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European Statement

Patient Safety and Quality Assurance

Author(s)

Nuria Monteagudo-Martínez, Ana Valladolid-Walsh, Gregorio Romero-Candel, Esther Domingo-Chiva, Jose Marco-del Río, Marca Diaz-Rangel, Francisca Sanchez-Rubio

Why was it done?

To acquire clinical skills in this setting and detect and prevent medication errors. It is also an area in which pharmacists had previously never participated in our hospital and it was an opportunity to integrate in this multidisciplinary team.

What was done?

Hospital pharmacy specialization programs include one year of rotations in clinical areas. The emergency department (ED) was chosen in order to develop a program to detect and prevent medication errors as a part of a multidisciplinary team.
Other tasks such as organizing drug storage, drug labelling and conservation, nurse counselling and education on issues related to medication were developed.

How was it done?

The pharmacy resident completed a rotation period based on the national educational program in clinical areas. Over a two month rotation period she reviewed treatments (61 patients, detecting 67 medication errors), organized and labelled drug storage, listed and identified thermolabile drugs, participated in a protocol design,…

What has been achieved?

The resident was able to improve care in acute patients in the ED. The most common errors found and prevented were: missed doses (25.3%); incorrect form to administer the drug (incompatibility diluent, infusion rate…) (13.4%); drug interaction/incompatibility (8.9%) and others.
The resident was able to organized refrigerator drug stored and developed a protocol to explain how to act in case of fridge failure.

What next?

To try to implement an ED-based clinical pharmacist program in order to detect and manage medication errors to improve safety in drug therapy, as well as to contribute to patient care with a different point of view from clinicians.

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