PHARMACISTS IMPROVE DOCUMENTATION OF DRUG ALLERGIE

European Statement: 

  • Patient Safety and Quality Assurance 

Author(s): 

Mohammed Almeziny
Fahad Alkharji 
Ali Alkhudair 
Jameel Al Mutairi

What was done?: 

Increase the allergy documentation from 14% to 96%.

Why was it done?: 

Poor allergies’ documentation may cause harm to the patients, if the concerned medication reaches them. The hospital is planning to implement a new Health Information System, which includes a Computerised Provider Order Entry. However, this is a long-term project, so in order to minimise that risk, the hospital administration gave the pharmacists the privilege to do so. The percentage of documented drug allergies was 14%. The issue of compliance from the medical, nursing and pharmacy staff was a major obstacle in allergies’ documentation. For that reason, the pharmaceutical services initiated an improvement project to enhance allergies’ documentation. it is the responsibility of the physician to document any allergy on the inpatient prescription form (IPPF). On the other hand, it is the responsibility of the nurse to ensure that all information is completed on the IPPF before it is sent to the pharmacy. The role of the pharmacist is to document the patient’s allergy in the pharmacy system.

How was it done?: 

The FOCUS PDCA was adopted. Find: It was found that the compliance rate was not satisfactory. Patients might receive a medication that is known to cause an allergic reaction, because the allergy was not documented and communicated with other healthcare providers. Organise: The team consisted of all involved departments. Clarify: Some IPPF may not contain allergies and some pharmacy staff do not document the allergy in the pharmacy system. Understand: The factors that may influence the process were identified, although some healthcare professionals consider the documentation as a time-consuming process. The pharmacy system is an old system which does not support enforcing function. Select: The targeted outcome was 90% within 1 year of its inception, July 2017 to July 2018. Plan: All allergies MUST be assisted, and the pharmacy will act as the enforcing body. Do the plan: All pharmacists were reminded to enforce hospital policies by not accepting any incomplete prescription and document all drug allergies in the pharmacy system. Check: Statistics regarding compliance were presented in monthly meetings to highlight the challenges, difficulty or any serious issue. It is a proactive meeting and members can freely suggest any tools required to improve the situation.

What has been achieved?: 

There was a significant improvement from 14% to 96%.

What next?: 

Start e-prescription to enforce the documentation of allergies.

Keywords: 

  • Drug safety›Allergy
  • Patient safety›Error-avoiding strategies
  • Quality›Risk minimization
Conflict of interest: 

I have no potential conflict of interest to disclose

Type: 

GPI

Stakeholder: 

Hospital Pharmacy profession
Patients
Healthcare Professionals - Doctors
Healthcare Professionals - Nurses
Others Healthcare Professionals
Hospital Pharmacists

Statement: 

Statement 5.1
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Evidence status: 

PHARMACISTS IMPROVE DOCUMENTATION OF DRUG ALLERGIES