Biomedical subjects

T K Gandhi

Publications and source records attributed to T K Gandhi.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2004

Adverse drug events and medication errors: detection and classification methods.

Investigating the incidence, type, and preventability of adverse drug events (ADEs) and medication errors is crucial to improving the quality of health care delivery. ADEs, potential ADEs, and medication errors can be collected by extraction from practice data, solicitation of incidents from health professionals, and patient surveys. Practice data include charts, laboratory, prescription data, and administrative databases, and can be reviewed manually or screened by computer systems to identify signals. Research nurses, pharmacists, or research assistants review these signals, and those that are likely to represent an ADE or medication error are presented to reviewers who independently categorize them into ADEs, potential ADEs, medication errors, or exclusions. These incidents are also classified according to preventability, ameliorability, disability, severity, stage, and responsible person. These classifications, as well as the initial selection of incidents, have been evaluated for agreement between reviewers and the level of agreement found ranged from satisfactory to excellent (kappa = 0.32-0.98). The method of ADE and medication error detection and classification described is feasible and has good reliability. It can be used in various clinical settings to measure and improve medication safety.

Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Systems↗

PubMed2003

Primary care physician attitudes concerning follow-up of abnormal test results and ambulatory decision support systems.

OBJECTIVES: Failures to follow-up abnormal test results are common in ambulatory care. Information systems could assist providers with abnormal test result tracking, yet little is known about primary care providers attitudes toward outpatient decision support systems. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey of 216 primary care physicians (PCPs) that utilize a single electronic medical record (EMR) without computer-based clinical decision support. RESULTS: The overall response rate was 65% (140/216). Less than one-third of the respondents were satisfied with their current system to manage abnormal laboratory, radiographs, Pap smear, or mammograms results. Only 15% of providers were satisfied with their system to notify patients of abnormal results. Over 90% of respondents felt automated systems to track abnormal test results would be useful. Seventy-nine percent of our respondents believed that they could comply better with guidelines through electronic clinical reminders. CONCLUSIONS: Most PCPs were not satisfied with their methods for tracking abnormal results. Respondents believed that clinical decision support systems (CDSS) would be useful and could improve their ability to track abnormal results.

Adult↗

PubMed2001

Patient safety and computerized medication ordering at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

BACKGROUND: Medications are important therapeutic tools in health care, yet creating safe medication processes is challenging for many reasons. Computerized physician order entry (CPOE), one important way that technology can be used to improve the medication process, has been in place at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH; Boston) since 1993. CPOE AT BWH: The CPOE application, designed and developed internally by the BWH information systems team, allows physicians and other clinicians to enter all patient orders into the computer. Physicians enter 85% of orders, with the remainder entered electronically by other clinicians. CPOE AND SAFE MEDICATION USE: The CPOE application at BWH includes several features designed to improve medication safety--structural features (for example, required fields, use of pick lists), enhanced workflow features (order sets, standard scales for insulin and potassium), alerts and reminders (drug-drug and drug-allergy interaction checking), and adjunct features (the pharmacy system, access to online reference information). RESULTS AT BWH: Studies of the impact of CPOE on physician decision making and patient safety at BWH include assessment of CPOE's impact on the serious medication error and the preventable adverse drug event rate, the impact of computer guidelines on the use of vancomycin, the impact of guidelines on the use of heparin in patients at bed rest, and the impact of dosing suggestions on excessive dosing. CONCLUSION: CPOE and several forms of clinical decision support targeted at increasing patient safety have substantially decreased the frequency of serious medication errors and have had an even bigger impact on the overall medication error rate.

Clinical Pharmacy Information Systems↗

PubMed2000

Reducing adverse drug events: lessons from a breakthrough series collaborative.

BACKGROUND: In January 1996, 38 hospitals and health care organizations (for a total of 40 hospitals) in the United States came together in an Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI; Boston) Breakthrough Series collaborative to reduce adverse drug events-injuries related to the use or nonuse of medications. METHODS: The participants were taught the Model for Improvement, a method for rapid-cycle change and evaluation, and were then coached on how to identify their own problem areas and develop changes in practice for rapid-cycle testing. These changes could be implementation of one or more known medication error prevention practices or new practices developed. RESULTS: During a 15-month period the 40 hospitals conducted a total of 739 tests of changes. Process changes accounted for 63% of the cycles; the remainder consisted of preliminary data gathering, consensus-building, or education cycles. Eight types of changes were implemented by seven or more hospitals, with a success rate of 70%. These changes included non-punitive reporting, ensuring documentation of allergy information, standardizing medication administration times, and implementing chemotherapy protocols. DISCUSSION: Success in making significant changes was associated with strong leadership, effective processes, and appropriate choice of intervention. Successful teams were able to define, clearly state, and relentlessly pursue their aims, and then chose practical interventions and moved early into changing a process. They did not spend months collecting data before beginning a change. Changes that were most successful were those that attempted to change processes, not people. Health care organizations committed to patient safety need not regard current performance limits as inevitable.

Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Systems↗

PubMed2000

Drug complications in outpatients.

OBJECTIVE: Outpatient drug complications have not been well studied. We sought to assess the incidence and characteristics of outpatient drug complications, identify their clinical and nonclinical correlates, and evaluate their impact on patient satisfaction. DESIGN: Retrospective chart reviews and patient surveys. SETTING: Eleven Boston-area ambulatory clinics. PATIENTS: We randomly selected 2,248 outpatients, 20 to 75 years old. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Among 2,248 patients reporting prescription drug use, 394 (18%) reported a drug complication. In contrast, chart review revealed an adverse drug event in only 64 patients (3%). In univariate analyses, significant correlates of patient-reported drug complications were number of medical problems, number of medications, renal disease, failure to explain side effects before treatment, lower medication compliance, and primary language other than English or Spanish. In multivariate analysis, independent correlates were number of medical problems (odds ratio [OR] 1.17; 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 1.05 to 1.30), failure to explain side effects (OR 1.65; 95% CI, 1.16 to 2.35), and primary language other than English or Spanish (OR 1.40; 95% CI, 1.01 to 1.95). Patient satisfaction was lower among patients who reported drug complications (P <.0001). In addition, 48% of those reporting drug complications sought medical attention and 49% experienced worry or discomfort. On chart review, 3 (5%) of the patients with an adverse drug event required hospitalization and 8 (13%) had a documented previous reaction to the causative drug. CONCLUSIONS: Drug complications in the ambulatory setting were common, although most were not documented in the medical record. These complications increased use of the medical system and correlated with dissatisfaction with care. Our results indicate a need for better communication about potential side effects of medications, especially for patients with multiple medical problems.

Adult↗

PubMed2000

Communication breakdown in the outpatient referral process.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate primary care and specialist physicians' satisfaction with interphysician communication and to identify the major problems in the current referral process. DESIGN: Surveys were mailed to providers to determine satisfaction with the referral process; then patient-specific surveys were e-mailed to this group to obtain real-time referral information. SETTING: Academic tertiary care medical center. PARTICIPANTS: Attending-level primary care physicians (PCPs) and specialists. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The response rate for mail surveys for PCPs was 57% and for specialists was 51%. In the mail survey, 63% of PCPs and 35% of specialists were dissatisfied with the current referral process. Respondents felt that major problems with the current referral system were lack of timeliness of information and inadequate referral letter content. Information considered important by recipient groups was often not included in letters that were sent. The response rate for the referral specific e-mail surveys was 56% for PCPs and 53% for specialists. In this e-mail survey, 68% of specialists reported that they received no information from the PCP prior to specific referral visits, and 38% of these said that this information would have been helpful. In addition, four weeks after specific referral visits, 25% of PCPs had still not received any information from specialists. CONCLUSIONS: Substantial problems were present in the referral process. The major issues were physician dissatisfaction, lack of timeliness, and inadequate content of interphysician communication. Information obtained from the general survey and referral-specific survey was congruent. Efforts to improve the referral system could improve both physician satisfaction and quality of patient care.

Ambulatory Care↗

PubMed2000

Identifying drug safety issues: from research to practice.

PURPOSE: Adverse drug events (ADEs), or injuries due to drugs, are common and often preventable. However, identifying ADEs, potential ADEs, and medication errors can be a major challenge. In this review, we describe methodologies that have been used to identify these events and give strategies for identification in non-study settings. RESULTS: Methods such as voluntary reporting, chart review, and computerized monitoring for events have been most commonly used in studies of ADEs in inpatients. However, voluntary reporting, the method most hospitals currently use, has a very low yield of events. Chart review is much more sensitive but the costs are prohibitive. Computerized monitoring for ADEs (using rules or triggers) is a high yield and relatively inexpensive strategy that should be adopted by organizations. A limitation of this strategy, however, is that it identifies few medication errors and potential ADEs, which are also important. These can be captured through pharmacy logs, chart review, and direct observation. Once events have been identified, they can be classified by type of event, severity, and preventability. In non-study settings, the most practical method for identifying ADEs is computerized monitoring, and for identifying prescribing errors it is pharmacy logs of interventions. Once problems are found, a structure (either individual or committee) must be in place to classify them, identify opportunities for improvement, and carry out the necessary changes. CONCLUSIONS: Health care organizations have the technology to significantly improve their detection of ADEs, medication errors, and potential ADEs. Identification and subsequent classification of events is crucial for quality efforts to improve patient safety.

Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting Systems↗

PubMed2000

Obstacles to collaborative quality improvement: the case of ambulatory general medical care.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effectiveness of inter-site collaboration and report-card style feedback of quality measures on quality improvement in the outpatient setting and to identify major barriers to improvement. DESIGN: A collaborative quality improvement effort consisting of a large cross-sectional data collection effort (chart reviews and patient surveys), feedback of comparative quality of care data to improvement teams, and collaboration between sites. SETTING: Eleven primary care sites in the Boston area. STUDY PARTICIPANTS: Quality improvement teams at each site with physician leaders. INTERVENTION: Education about techniques of rapid-cycle quality improvement, coaching of on-site teams, and report-card style feedback of comparative site-specific quality of care data. RESULTS: Multiple quality improvement projects were undertaken through this collaboration. However, though we were careful to educate teams on methods of continuous quality improvement and to name specific clinical leaders, the degree of collaboration and quality improvement fell short of expectations. Major impediments to improvement included lack of team members' time and resources, lack of incentives, and unempowered team leadership. The primary obstacle to collaboration was the diversity of sites and inability of teams to create interventions that were relevant to other sites. CONCLUSION: Despite ample quality of care data, quality improvement education, and a structured collaborative process, achieving quality improvement in the ambulatory setting is still a difficult challenge. Organizations need to find ways of overcoming the obstacles faced by improvement teams in order to maximize quality improvement.

Ambulatory Care↗

PubMed1999

A computer-based outpatient clinical referral system.

The process of generating a clinical referral for a patient, and the resulting transfer of information from the primary care physician to the specialist and back again, are key components in the struggle to deliver less costly and more effective clinical care. We have created a computer-based, outpatient clinical referral application that facilitates: (1) identifying an appropriate specialist; (2) collecting the clinical, demographic, and financial data required to generate a referral; and (3) transferring the information between the specialist and the primary care physician (PCP). This article describes the development of the application itself and several of the knowledge bases that were created to facilitate this process. Preliminary results indicate that the new computer-based referral process is faster to use than conventional methods.

Ambulatory Care↗

PubMed1999

The incidence of ehrlichial and rickettsial infection in patients with unexplained fever and recent history of tick bite in central North Carolina.

We examined the clinical and laboratory findings of a consecutive series of patients from central North Carolina presenting with fever and a history of tick bite within the preceding 14 days. Evidence of a tick-transmitted pathogen was detected in 16 of 35 patients enrolled over a 2-year period. Nine patients were infected with Ehrlichia chaffeensis, and 6 were infected with a spotted fever group rickettsia; 1 patient had evidence of coinfection with E. chaffeensis and a spotted fever group rickettsia. Four patients had detectable antibodies against the human granulocytic ehrlichiosis agent; however, only 2 had a 4-fold antibody titer rise without detectable antibodies against E. chaffeensis. The other 2 were thought to have cross-reacting antibodies to E. chaffeensis. We conclude that ehrlichial infections may be as common as spotted fever group rickettsial infections in febrile patients from central North Carolina with a recent history of tick bite.

Adult↗