Clinical trial NCT00370916: Reducing Transition Drug Risk
Official title: Reducing Transition Drug Risks After Patient Transfer
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Hospitalization
Keywords: Clinical Decision Support Systems
Continuity of Patient Care
Medication Errors
Drug Adverse Effects
Lead sponsor: VA Office of Research and Development
Sponsor class: FED
Collaborators: name: University of Victoria
name: Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
First posted: 2006-09-01
Enrollment: 612
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Brief summary: Patient transfer between sites of care is regular practice during an episode of care in our current health care system. Yet inter-site transfer is associated with lapses in care quality that adversely affect patient outcomes. A common iatrogenic harm precipitated at the time of transfer is harm from drug prescribing, or adverse drug events (ADEs). In this study we will evaluate a medication reconciliation tool developed to help providers make effective prescribing decisions at the time of transfer between VA sites of care (Improved Prescribing after Transfer (IPT)). We will evaluate the quantitative effectiveness of the tool in reducing transition drug risk and ADEs. We additionally will conduct focus group discussions and cognitive task analysis among end-users to better understand how providers make drug-prescribing decisions at the time of transfer and to assess factors influencing effective use of the tool.

Detailed description: This is a 2-phase study in which we will employ mixed quantitative and qualitative methods to conduct an evaluation of the IPT tool while improving our understanding of provider prescribing decisions at the time of patient transfer. In Phase 1 we will conduct a 5-month controlled trial among all admissions to 2 units at J.J. Peters (Bronx) VA Medical Center. We will compare IPT with usual care, and compare physician and pharmacist forms of IPT implementation with regard to, as primary outcome, transition drug risk, and, as secondary outcomes, ADEs, provider prescribing-decisions, and hospital utilization. In Phase 2, which will run concurrently with Phase 1, we will perform cognitive task analysis to examine providers' decision-making and to map IPT tool functions while providers interface with the tool, and perform focus group interviews with representative IPT users to identify factors that facilitate or hinder adoption. Results of cognitive analysis and focus groups will be used to identify tool deficiencies to consider for redesign.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

All patients who were admitted to the JJ Peters (Bronx) VA Hospital general medical wards (units 7A and 7B) between 10/05-2/06 and stayed least 24 hours

Exclusion Criteria:

Patients who were transferred to one of the study units wards (units 7A and 7B) from another JJ Peters (Bronx) VA Hospital acute care unit (e.g., an intensive care unit), or who stayed in the hospital less than 24 hours

Primary outcomes:
measure: High risk drug discrepancies
timeFrame: After hospital admission and discharge
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Drug discrepancy adverse events
timeFrame: During the hospital stay and 1 month after hospital discharge
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Bronx
country: United States
facility: James J. Peters VA Medical Center, Bronx, NY
state: New York
Study officials:
affiliation: James J. Peters Veterans Affairs Medical Center
name: Kenneth S Boockvar, MD MS
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Boockvar KS, Santos SL, Kushniruk A, Johnson C, Nebeker JR. Medication reconciliation: barriers and facilitators from the perspectives of resident physicians and pharmacists. J Hosp Med. 2011 Jul-Aug;6(6):329-37. doi: 10.1002/jhm.891.
citation: Kushniruk AW, Santos SL, Pourakis G, Nebeker JR, Boockvar KS. Cognitive analysis of a medication reconciliation tool: applying laboratory and naturalistic approaches to system evaluation. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2011;164:203-7.
citation: Boockvar KS, Blum S, Kugler A, Livote E, Mergenhagen KA, Nebeker JR, Signor D, Sung S, Yeh J. Effect of admission medication reconciliation on adverse drug events from admission medication changes. Arch Intern Med. 2011 May 9;171(9):860-1. doi: 10.1001/archinternmed.2011.163. No abstract available.
citation: Mergenhagen KA, Blum SS, Kugler A, Livote EE, Nebeker JR, Ott MC, Signor D, Sung S, Yeh J, Boockvar KS. Pharmacist- versus physician-initiated admission medication reconciliation: impact on adverse drug events. Am J Geriatr Pharmacother. 2012 Aug;10(4):242-50. doi: 10.1016/j.amjopharm.2012.06.001. Epub 2012 Jul 20.