TY - JOUR
T1 - Development of canadian safety indicators for medication use.
AU - Nigam, Rita
AU - Mackinnon, Neil J.
AU - U.D., David
AU - Hartnell, Nicole R.
AU - Levy, Adrian R.
AU - Gurnham, Mary Ellen
AU - Nguyen, Tiffany T.
N1 - Copyright:
MEDLINE® is the source for the citation and abstract of this record.
PY - 2008
Y1 - 2008
N2 - Reports of preventable illness due to medication errors are widespread in Canada. However, quantifying the magnitude of the problem has been hampered by a lack of measurement tools. Canadian-specific indicators, or performance measures, of safe medication use do not exist. The objective of this study was to develop a set of Canadian consensus-based indicators for the safe use of medication for both in-patient and outpatient settings. A panel of 20 national experts was established from a convenience sample of experts representing medicine, nursing, pharmacy, research and decision-makers in hospitals and community settings across Canada. After creating a list of potential indicators from the literature, the final consensus set was chosen by the panel using a Delphi survey process via e-mail. After three rounds, consensus was obtained on 20 medication-use safety indicators: seven indicators were related to systems of care, five to prescribing/ordering, three to monitoring/assessment, three to medication administration, one to preparation and dispensing and one to purchasing/inventory management. Seventeen of the indicators measure a process of care (in contrast to health outcome); at least 10 have applications outside the in-patient setting. The resulting 20 medication-use safety indicators are diverse in scope and should be applicable in a variety of practice settings. These indicators may provide clinicians and decision-makers with valuable tools to assess the safety of medication-use systems.
AB - Reports of preventable illness due to medication errors are widespread in Canada. However, quantifying the magnitude of the problem has been hampered by a lack of measurement tools. Canadian-specific indicators, or performance measures, of safe medication use do not exist. The objective of this study was to develop a set of Canadian consensus-based indicators for the safe use of medication for both in-patient and outpatient settings. A panel of 20 national experts was established from a convenience sample of experts representing medicine, nursing, pharmacy, research and decision-makers in hospitals and community settings across Canada. After creating a list of potential indicators from the literature, the final consensus set was chosen by the panel using a Delphi survey process via e-mail. After three rounds, consensus was obtained on 20 medication-use safety indicators: seven indicators were related to systems of care, five to prescribing/ordering, three to monitoring/assessment, three to medication administration, one to preparation and dispensing and one to purchasing/inventory management. Seventeen of the indicators measure a process of care (in contrast to health outcome); at least 10 have applications outside the in-patient setting. The resulting 20 medication-use safety indicators are diverse in scope and should be applicable in a variety of practice settings. These indicators may provide clinicians and decision-makers with valuable tools to assess the safety of medication-use systems.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=47349106149&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=47349106149&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Article
C2 - 18382161
AN - SCOPUS:47349106149
SN - 1710-2774
VL - 11
SP - 47
EP - 53
JO - Healthcare quarterly (Toronto, Ont.)
JF - Healthcare quarterly (Toronto, Ont.)
IS - 3 Spec No.
ER -