Posted: August 24th, 2015

Medication Safety Audit

Medication Safety Audit

Writing the Medication Safety Audit on ”Vancomycin” an antibiotics.
This is a task during my placement, will be gathering more info/supporting document on some patients, for this report and forward you ASAP.

Task
Students are to undertake a  medication safety audit within their specified hospital placement setting. Upon completion of the audit a report is to be completed and submitted via EASTS for marking.
The report must be fully de-identified  (this includes the hospital name) and will include an introduction, literature review (rationale and reasoning for the particular chosen safety audit), method (how was the safety audit carried out, what tools where used etc), results/findings of the safety audit and what recommendations/conclusion did you find or suggest.
A number of areas could be utilised for medication safety audits. These may include but are not limited to the following suggestions
?    Percentage of patients that are reviewed by a clinical pharmacist within one day of admission
?    Percentage of hospitalised adult patients that receive venous thromboembolism prophylaxis appropriate to their level of risk
?    Percentage of patients whose current medicines are documented and reconciled at admission
?    Percentage of prescriptions for restricted antibiotics that are concordant with drug and therapeutics committee approved criteria
?    Percentage of medication orders that include error-prone abbreviations
?    Percentage of patients whose known adverse drug reactions are documented on the current medication chart
?
The report is to be a maximum of 1500 words (non inclusive of references or supporting documents). To support the literature review current evidence based journal articles (this does not include texts or e-databases) must be used.
Students will be required to contact the assigned placement supervisor prior to undertaking the hospital placement and determine which safety audit will be carried out to allow appropriate preparation in advance.
Rationale
One of the central objectives of clinical practice is the achievement of the quality use of medication (QUM). This involves the
?    Wise selection of management options (both pharmacological and non-pharmacological)
?    Appropriate choice of medication if necessary
?    Safe and effective use of medication
Medication safety audits are one of the risk assessment tools specifically designed to help hospitals take an active and system-based approach to medication safety. Medication safety audits assist hospitals by verifying their services against the National Safety and Quality in Health Care Standards. They have the ability to help improve patient outcomes by identifying, and measuring, areas where  improvement in services are needed.
Tools generally provided by the NSW Therapeutic Advisory Group allow for the self assessment of the medication safety practices within a health service, identification of improvement opportunities and comparison with the aggregate experience of demographically similar services. These are considered to be an essential part of maintaining and improving the QUM within the hospital system and are included within  Domain 7 (Promote and Contribute to Optimal Use of medicines) of the National Competency Framework for Australian Pharmacists specifically
Standard 7.3 Influencing patterns of medication use
?    Element 1 Understanding the basis for investigating patterns of medication use
?    Element 2 Review Patterns of Medication use
?    Element 3  promote improvement in patterns of medication use
This task also links towards the following learning objectives that students:
?    understand the principles of research in the practice setting;
?    possess an ability to utilise and assess information from evidence-based medicine studies;
?    be able to practice in the wide range of pharmacy practice settings available in rural practice??

Marking criteria

Marking Rubric for Medication Safety Audit
Criteria and Weighting    High Distinction
Distinction
Credit
Pass
Fail

Introduction
Rationale and Reasoning
10 marks
Demonstrates an excellent grasp of the rationale of medication audits and precisely defines the strategy/steps  the safety audit will take    Demonstrates a good rationale of medication audits and  defines the strategy/ steps the safety audit will take    Demonstrates an understanding of medication audits however lacks clarity in defining the strategy/ steps the safety audit will take    The introduction shows some understanding of medication audits however is lacking in clarity and precision whilst defining the strategy/ steps the safety audit will take    The introduction is lacking both in clarity and precision. No understanding of medication audits nor strategy/ steps for the medication audit is provided
Mark Range                      8.5-10                 7.5-8                 6.5-7                  5.0-6                    0-4.5
Spelling and Grammar- General- conformity
5 marks
Consistently adhering to the conventions of English no errors in spelling or Grammar
Adheres to word limit and presentation requirements    Adhering to most of the conventions of English and grammar with a small number of errors
Adheres to the word limit and presentation requirements    Adhering to most of the conventions of English and grammar with a number of errors
Exceeds the  word limit by no more than 10% of the required limit
Most presentation requirements are adhered to.?     Used poor conventions of English such that meaning had to be inferred by the reader
Word limit is exceeded by more than 10% of the specified limit
Only some presentation requirements are adhered to.
Mark Range    5    3    2.5    1
Provision of Information, Reasoning and Recommendations.
20 marks
Demonstrates the ability to accurately and concisely collate data
Provides a  clear and concise interpretation of the data to  formulate conclusions and recommendations that are fully supported by the findings
Demonstrates the ability to provide valid clinical reasons for any divergence from the audit criteria/standards
Clearly and concisely presents review findings  and recommendations    Demonstrates the ability to accurately collate data
Provides a clear  interpretation of the data to formulate conclusions and recommendations that are  supported by the findings
Demonstrates the ability to provide valid clinical reasons for any divergence from the audit criteria/standards
Clearly presents review findings and recommendations?     Demonstrates the ability to collate data
Provides an interpretation of the data to formulate conclusions and recommendations that are supported by the findings
Demonstrates the ability to provide clinical reasons for most divergences from  audit criteria/standards
Presents review findings and recommendations??     Demonstrates the ability to collate data
Provides an interpretation of the data to formulate conclusions and recommendations that are mostly supported by the findings
Provide clinical reasons for some divergences from  audit criteria/standards
Presents review findings and recommendations that lack clarity or precision
Demonstrates the limited ability to collate data
Provides no interpretation of the data to formulate conclusions and recommendations that are supported by the findings
Review findings and recommendations lack clarity or precision?
Mark Range    17-20    15-16.5    13-14.5    10-12.5    0-9.5
Research- Appropriate use of Evidence Based research and the
Supply of all Supporting Documentation
10 marks
Appropriate use of  a wide range of evidence  based reference material to support or illustrate all findings and recommendations.
Supply of All required supporting documentation
Appropriate use of evidence based reference materials to support or illustrate most findings and recommendations.
Supply of Most Supporting documentation
Main findings and recommendations are not supported by evidence based  references.
Supply of No supporting documentation

Mark Range    7.5-10    5-6.5    0-4
Referencing APA style- Conformity with APA guidelines
5 marks
Accurately adhering to all of the required referencing conventions, in both the text and the reference list    Adhering to most of the required referencing conventions, in both the text and the reference list    Using own style of referencing or omitting references
Mark Range    5.0    3    0- 2.5

Presentation
Students are required to submit typewritten assignments as a WORD document.  You are requested to use clear fonts such as Times New Roman, Arial, Calibri or Cambria (font size 12) with a minimum spacing of 1.5. Assignments are required to be submitted via EASTS by the allocated DUE dates?
Requirements
Students must de-identify data to comply with patient, hospital privacy, and site security (the site name is not allowed in the text of the assignment)
Electronic data collection should be supplied as supporting evidence
Appropriate APA citation is expected in any written assessment