Table 4 Local initiatives reported in use in English NHS hospitals to improve medication safety
From: A national survey of inpatient medication systems in English NHS hospitals
Local initiative | Number of hospitals | Examples |
|---|---|---|
Extensive ward pharmacy technician and/or ward pharmacy assistant service | 10 | Technician discharge transcribing service |
Trial of technician medication administration | ||
Near-patient dispensing | 9 | Use of mobile dispensing units, satellite dispensary, and pre-labelled packs |
Extended pharmacy services to wards | 7 | Increased frequency of ward pharmacy visits, increased pharmacy opening hours, and provision of pharmacy service to wards on weekends |
Use of OSD and PODs | 6 | |
Self-administration schemes | 4 | Specific self-administration scheme for patients with Parkinson’s disease and separately for maternity units, and an ‘opt-out’ patient self-administration scheme |
Technology | 3 | EPMA, automated medication storage cabinets (for example, Omnicell®), an electronic discharge prescribing system, and an electronic prescription tracking system |
Quarterly medication storage review on wards | 2 | |
Other | 8 | Director/matron walkabouts with medicines checks on wards to identify potential medication problems and provide immediate feedback to ward staff, fast-track medication request system, pneumatic tube system, non-OSD supplies being additionally labelled with “inpatient supply only” to remind staff not to issue these to patients on discharge, standard operating procedures for nurses on specific administration processes, target turnaround times for inpatient supply, and changed order of tasks during drug administrations with IVs administered first followed by medicines on a critical list then other non-IV medications. |