Saul N. Weingart
Lessons from a patient partnership intervention to prevent adverse drug events
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute|Harvard University
backgroundpatient safety best practices call patient participation prevent adverse drug events rigorously evaluatedobjectiveto consider lessons learned patient partnership intervention prevent adverse drug events among medical inpatientsdesignprospective randomized controlled pilot trialsettingboston teaching hospitalpatientstwo hundred nine adult inpatients general medicine unitinterventionintervention patients n 107 received drug safety information medication list controls n 102 received drug safety information onlymeasurementsadverse drug events closecall drug errors identified using chart review incident reports nurses pharmacists physicianspatients clinicians surveyed interventionresultsin 1053 patientdays risk 11 patients experienced 12 adverse drug events 16 patients experienced 18 close callsthere nonsignificant difference intervention patients controls survey responses adverse drug event rate 84 versus 29 p 012 closecall rate 75 versus 98 p 057eleven percent patients aware drugrelated mistakes hospitalizationamong nurse respondents 29 indicated least one medication error prevented patient family member identified problem conclusionpartnering inpatients prevent adverse drug events promising strategy requires study document efficacy