Feasibility Study of Interventions to Reduce Medication Omissions Without Documentation

Abstract

We conducted a feasibility study to test an intervention to reduce medication omissions without documentation using nurse-initiated recall cards and medication chart checking at handover. No significant difference in the omission rate per 100 medications was found, although after adjusting for hospital and patient age, a significant effect occurred in the intervention group (n = 262 patients) compared with the control group (n = 272). This intervention may reduce medication omissions without documentation, requiring further study within larger samples.

Prevalence, nature and risk factors for medication administration omissions in English NHS hospital inpatients: a retrospective multicentre study using Medication Safety Thermometer data

“…Within healthcare settings, omissions are a well-known issue among healthcare staff who have often reported anecdotal evidence of prescribed medicines not reaching patients 12 13. A number of studies have quantified the issue of omissions within hospitals,12 but these either have often been small studies,14–17 focused on one type of medication group,18 or have been conducted in one organisation5 15 19–21 or specific specialty area only 5 16 21 22. The rates of omissions reported by these previous studies have been highly variable, partly due to the varying definitions and classification systems used in studies 15.…”