Medication safety and electronic decision support - news

Medication safety and electronic decision support - news

News

Health Innovation Series We are pleased to launch the new Health Innovation Series - evidence based recommendations to improve care delivery and outcomes. With the new Health Innovation Series, we have synthesised five years of research evidence into highly practical tips for users (including nurses, doctors and pharmacists) and for system optimisation. Read each issue in less than 3 minutes and immediately think, how can you apply the evidence to your setting? The Health Innovation Series recommendations are evidenced-based and each issue pinpoints a specific concern around medication safety, including electronic medication management systems.
National Medication Safety Symposium The National Medication Safety Symposium was held on 21 September 2022 at Macquarie University. The symposium presented an opportunity to engage with the latest evidence on how electronic systems support safer care, along with recommendations for improving system design and implementation processes. Results from the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network and eHealth NSW NHMRC partnership project on medication safety were presented. To view the presentations, please visit the AIHI Youtube page.
Study results presented at the annual eMedication Management Conference Dr Magda Raban presented the team’s work on technology-related errors at the annual eMedication Management Conference in Sydney in March 2022. Her presentation “Technology-related prescribing errors immediately and 1-year post-eMeds implementation at a paediatric hospital” detailed results generated from a Partnership Project with the Sydney Children’s Hospital Network and eHealth NSW.
New NHMRC Partnership Project on Medication Safety in Aged Care Macquarie University has been awarded $1.4 million in National Health and Medical Research Council funding for ‘A National Aged Care Medication Roundtable - Translating aged care data into action to improve quality of care through collaboration and co-design’. Professor Johanna Westbrook will lead the Roundtable, designed to directly support national aged care policy and targets, Commonwealth national aged care quality indicators, along with recommendations from the Royal Commission. This highly collaborative project will devise innovative and practical IT based solutions to address poor medication management which was the topic of more than one third of issues reported to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety and is the greatest source of complaint to the Aged Care Quality & Safety Commission. For more information.
Dr Magda Raban wins a conference award Dr Magda Raban was the awarded the Elain Graham Robertson Award for best oral abstract at the Australasian College for Infection Prevention and Control conference in November 2021. Dr Raban presented her work on “Reducing antibiotic prescribing using nudges: a systematic review of interventions in primary care”.
Evidence Briefings on Interventions to Improve Medication Safety The team was engaged by the Australian Commission for Safety and Quality in Health Care (the Commission) to provide evidence briefing on six key medication safety interventions in hospitals: Electronic prescribing systems Electronic medication administration records Scanning medication administration systems Closed-loop medication management systems Double-checking medication administration Reducing interruptions during medication prescribing, preparation and administration Literature reviews were conducted and the evidence on each of the interventions summarised for the Australian context. The briefings are available here.
Survey invitation - services for children in hospital If your child were in hospital, what care and services would be most important to you? If you are a parent of a child under 18 years, we’d love to hear from you and invite you to complete this survey. Please also share the link or pdf with family, friends (school class parent groups for instance) and colleagues. We are working with Sydney Children’s Hospital Network to improve care for children in hospital as part of our NHMRC Partnership Project. The survey takes about 10 minutes to complete. If you have any questions, please contact Dr Virginia Mumford - virginia.mumford@mq.edu.au SURVEY
Antibiotic use is higher in Australia’s residential aged care facilities than in other countries Dr Magda Raban is interviewed by Aged Care Insite on our recent research comparing the use of antibiotics in residential aged care facilities internationally, Temporal and regional trends of antibiotic use in long-term aged care facilities across 39 countries, 1985-2019: Systematic review and meta-analysis. To read the article, please visit Aged Care Insite
Transforming medication management in residential aged care with digital systems In the November issue of The Health Advocate, Dr Magda Raban and Prof Johanna Westbrook discuss the challenges and opportunities for electronic medication systems in residential aged care, and the key role they can play in aged care reform.
Erin Fitzpatrick and Alison Merchant receive the Centre's Professional Excellence Award for 2020 At the last AIHI meeting for 2020, Erin Fitzpatrick's and Alison Merchant's contributions to and leadership in work on medication errors and electronic system related errors were recognised. Erin and Alison were joint awardees of the Professional Excellence Award in the Centre for Health Systems and Safety Research for the year. Erin and Alison have been applying their expertise in clinical pharmacy to a large NHMRC funded Partnership Project with the Sydney Children's Hospital Network examining the impact of electronic medication management systems on medication errors and patient harm.
Professor Johanna Westbrook awarded the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Elizabeth Blackburn Investigator Grant Award The outstanding leadership of Macquarie University Professor Johanna Westbrook has been recognised with the announcement of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Elizabeth Blackburn Investigator Grant Award (Leadership in Health Services Research) at the NHMRC Research Excellence Awards in Canberra last night. Professor Westbrook is internationally recognised for her research evaluating the effects of information and communication technology in healthcare and is the Director of the Centre for Health Systems and Safety Research at the Australian Institute of Health Innovation. The Elizabeth Blackburn Investigator Grant Award recognises the highest-ranking woman in the area of health services, determined by a peer review process. Read more.
Drop in medication errors at children’s hospital with new e-system Early results from the Delivering safe and effective care for children project have recently gained media attention. Prof Johanna Westbrook provides background here and here .
30^th Medical Informatics Europe (MIE) conference, 2020 Dr Valentina Lichtner’s submissions to 30th Medical Informatics Europe conference (MIE) have been accepted. Valentina will present in Geneva, 28/4-1/5/2020. A poster: Lichtner, V, Prgomet, M, Franklin, BD, Westbrook, JI, The ‘back office’ of a dispensing cabinet: technology and work contributing to medication safety A workshop: Lichtner, V, Pelayo, S, Westbrook, JI, Drifting into medication errors with automated dispensing cabinets: how to prevent it? A workshop for a medical informatics approach A workshop: Marcilly, R, Kuziemsky, C, Nohr, C, Peute, L, Lichtner, V, Ethics Reviews and Human and Organizational Factors’ Research in European Countries: a panel from the HOFMI working group
Prof Johanna Westbrook awarded $2.5M of NHMRC funding for research on optimising eMM Prof Johanna Westbrook was awarded a National Health and Medical Research Council Investigator Grant worth $2.5 million titled “Delivering safe and effective medication management technology now and for the future”. There is little robust evidence to guide massive investments in electronic medication management (eMM) systems in hospitals. This innovative program of work will generate the new evidence, policy and practice urgently needed to optimise eMM systems to ensure they save lives and improve health outcomes, now and in future.
Dr Valentina Lichtner presents an AIHI Seminar, 10 October 2019 Dr Valentina Lichtner presented her work on “Ultra-safe, collective mindfulness and electronic medication management systems in paediatric oncology” at the AIHI Seminar Series, Macquarie University. Dr Lichtner’s presentation discussed the challenges of operating ultra-safe models of safety; how adherence to protocol and management of risks is sometimes achieved through collective mindfulness practices typical of high-reliability organisations; and the three levels of awareness (situation, team and organisational) that make technology work. Dr Lichtner is a Marie-Curie visiting fellow at the Centre for Health Systems and Safety Research where she has been working with the Medication Safety and Decision Support team.
36^th International Society for Quality in Health Care International Conference, Cape Town, 20-23 October, 2019 Prof Johanna Westbrook, Dr Peter Gates and Dr Kim Lind represented the Medication Safety and Electronic Decision Support team at the ISQua International Conference in Capetown in October 2019. They delivered five presentations and posters. Read more.

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