Medication Errors in HIV-Infected Hospitalized Patients: A Pharmacist’s Impact (July/August).

Link to article at PubMed

Medication Errors in HIV-Infected Hospitalized Patients: A Pharmacist's Impact (July/August).

Ann Pharmacother. 2013 Jun 4;

Authors: Eginger KH, Yarborough LL, Devito Inge L, Basile SA, Floresca D, Aaronson PM

Abstract
BACKGROUND:Treatment with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) decreases morbidity and mortality associated with HIV infection. Unfortunately, HAART medication errors are prevalent in hospitalized patients with HIV infection. Appropriate regimen administration and adherence are essential for treatment success.OBJECTIVE:To assess the impact of pharmacist interventions on the rate of medication errors in HIV-infected hospitalized patients who had been prescribed HAART in the outpatient setting.METHODS:Hospitalized patients aged 18 years or older receiving HAART and/or opportunistic infection (OI) prophylaxis were screened for inclusion. Data collection for each enrolled patient included demographic information, pertinent laboratory RESULTS: Eighty-six patients were included in this investigation and 210 HAART and OI prophylaxis errors were documented. Of patients receiving HAART and/or OI prophylaxis, 54.7% had at least 1 medication error on admission. An average of 2.4 errors per patient was identified. Dose omission (45.5%) was the most common error type among combined HAART and OI prophylaxis regimens, followed by incorrect regimen (17.1%) and incorrect dose (15.1%). Prescribers accepted 90% of pharmacist recommendations. A pharmacist was able to amend 94.7% of correctable HAART errors, as well as 89.9% of correctable combined HAART and OI prophylaxis errors. An estimated 18.5 minutes of pharmacist time were spent per patient requiring an intervention.CONCLUSIONS:A clinical pharmacist's targeted review of outpatient-prescribed HAART and/or OI primary prophylaxis regimens of hospitalized HIV-infected patients can reduce most medication errors during hospitalization.

PMID: 23737513 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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