Omitted doses of medications occurring on inpatient hospital wards. Not Applicable
Conditions
Interventions
This randomised controlled trial involves a control and intervention arm and will be divided into three phases – pre-intervention/baseline, intervention (where intervention wards receive the TECHMED i
Sponsors
The University of Manchester, Faculty of MHS Administration
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria: Techmed RCT: 1. AFC Band 4/5 professionally registered pharmacy technicians employed by the study hospital who were interested in delivering the TECHMED service and who have drug accuracy checking qualifications and experience of ward work 2. Wards with similar characteristics suitable for randomisation who are interested in taking part, with senior nursing and individual ward manager approval 3. All regular and stat scheduled doses of medication to be given via any route of administration on the chosen study wards. Process evaluation: 1. AFC Band 4/5 pharmacy technicians responsible for delivering TECHMED services 2. Professionally registered nursing staff of any grade employed by hospital site predominantly on the intervention wards who work directly with TECHMED pharmacy technicians to deliver the service 3. Professionally registered medical, nursing and pharmacy staff of any grade/level of experience employed on the intervention ward(s) who have experienced indirect contact with TECHMED components (e.g. dispensary staff receiving new orders from TECHMED technicians, ward based nursing/medical/pharmacy staff who respond to queries raised by the technicians/nurses)
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria: Techmed RCT: 1. Inpatient wards which cannot be paired and therefore pooled in the randomisation sampling process (e.g. single units with no similar ward like intensive care, medical admissions) 2. Outpatient environments within study hospital 3. Any inpatient wards which do not utilise electronic prescribing and drug administration systems 4. Pharmacy technicians who are not AFC pay scale band 4/5 or not employed by study hospital 5. Pharmacy technicians without drug accuracy checking qualifications and prior experience of ward work 6. Pharmacy technicians not professionally registered with General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) 7. When required PRN doses of medication on the study wards Process evaluation: 1. Staff not employed on the intervention ward(s) 2. University students (e.g. nursing students) 3. Patients and their relatives/friends/representatives 4. Health care support staff such as physiotherapists, dieticians, SALT, social workers, ward clerks, support workers, occupational therapists, phlebotomists (i.e. not pharmacy/nursing/medical)
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| Rate of all omitted doses, measured using extracted prescribing and medicines administration data from electronic inpatient record systems at the study hospital. Data will be extracted following completion of each 1 month phase of the study. | — |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| 1. Rate of preventable omitted doses (PrOD) 2. Rate of all omitted doses of critical list medications 3. Rate of preventable omitted doses of critical list medications | — |
Countries
United Kingdom
Outcome results
None listed