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There is a paucity of high-quality evidence based on clinical endpoints for routine cleaning of shared medical equipment. We assessed the effect of enhanced cleaning and disinfection of shared medical equipment on health-care-associated infections (HAIs) in hospitalised patients. We conducted a stepped-wedge, cluster randomised, controlled trial in ten wards of a single hospital located on the central coast of New South Wales, Australia. Hospitals were eligible for inclusion if they were classified as public acute group A according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, were located in New South Wales, had an intensive care unit, had a minimum of ten wards, and provided care for patients aged 18 years or older. Each cluster consisted of two randomly allocated wards (by use of simple randomisation), with a new cluster beginning the intervention every 6 weeks. Wards were informed of their allocation 2 weeks before commencement of intervention exposure, and the researcher collecting primary outcome data and audit data was masked to treatment sequence allocation. In the control phase, there was no change to environmental cleaning practices. In the intervention phase, a multimodal cleaning bundle included an additional 3 h per weekday for the dedicated cleaning and disinfection of shared medical equipment by 21 dedicated cleaning staff, with ongoing education, audit, and feedback. The primary outcome was the number of confirmed cases of HAI, as assessed by a fortnightly point prevalence survey and measured in all patients admitted to the wards during the study period. The completed trial is registered with Australia New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12622001143718). The hospital was recruited on July 31, 2022, and the study was conducted between March 20 and Nov 24, 2023. We assessed 220 hospitals for eligibility, of which five were invited to participate, and the first hospital to formally respond was enrolled. 5002 patients were included in the study (2524 [50·5%] women and 2478 [49·5%] men). In unadjusted results, 433 confirmed HAI cases occurred in 2497 patients (17·3%, 95% CI 15·9 to 18·8) in the control phase and 301 confirmed HAI cases occurred in 2508 patients (12·0%, 10·7 to 13·3) in the intervention phase. In adjusted results, there was a relative reduction of –34·5% (–50·3 to –17·5) in HAIs following the intervention (odds ratio 0·62, 95% CI 0·45 to 0·80; p=0·0006), corresponding to an absolute reduction equal to –5·2% (–8·2 to –2·3). No adverse effects were reported. Improving the cleaning and disinfection of shared medical equipment significantly reduced HAIs, underscoring the crucial role of cleaning in improving patient outcomes. Findings emphasise the need for dedicated approaches for cleaning shared equipment. National Health and Medical Research Council.

To evaluate the changes in productivity when scribes were used by emergency physicians in emergency departments in Australia and assess the effect of scribes on throughput. Randomised, multicentre clinical trial. Five emergency departments in Victoria used Australian trained scribes during their respective trial periods. Sites were broadly representative of Australian emergency departments: public (urban, tertiary, regional referral, paediatric) and private, not for profit. 88 physicians who were permanent, salaried employees working more than one shift a week and were either emergency consultants or senior registrars in their final year of training; 12 scribes trained at one site and rotated to each study site. Physicians worked their routine shifts and were randomly allocated a scribe for the duration of their shift. Each site required a minimum of 100 scribed and non-scribed shifts, from November 2015 to January 2018. Physicians' productivity (total patients, primary patients); patient throughput (door-to-doctor time, length of stay); physicians' productivity in emergency department regions. Self reported harms of scribes were analysed, and a cost-benefit analysis was done. Data were collected from 589 scribed shifts (5098 patients) and 3296 non-scribed shifts (23 838 patients). Scribes increased physicians' productivity from 1.13 (95% confidence interval 1.11 to 1.17) to 1.31 (1.25 to 1.38) patients per hour per doctor, representing a 15.9% gain. Primary consultations increased from 0.83 (0.81 to 0.85) to 1.04 (0.98 to 1.11) patients per hour per doctor, representing a 25.6% gain. No change was seen in door-to-doctor time. Median length of stay reduced from 192 (interquartile range 108-311) minutes to 173 (96-208) minutes, representing a 19 minute reduction (P<0.001). The greatest gains were achieved by placing scribes with senior doctors at triage, the least by using them in sub-acute/fast track regions. No significant harm involving scribes was reported. The cost-benefit analysis based on productivity and throughput gains showed a favourable financial position with use of scribes. Scribes improved emergency physicians' productivity, particularly during primary consultations, and decreased patients' length of stay. Further work should evaluate the role of the scribe in countries with health systems similar to Australia's. ACTRN12615000607572 (pilot site); ACTRN12616000618459.

ObjectivesPharmacists play a role in providing medication reconciliation. However, data on effectiveness on patients’ clinical outcomes appear inconclusive. Thus, the aim of this study was to systematically investigate the effect of pharmacist-led medication reconciliation programmes on clinical outcomes at hospital transitions.DesignSystematic review and meta-analysis.MethodsWe searched PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, IPA, CINHAL and PsycINFO from inception to December 2014. Included studies were all published studies in English that compared the effectiveness of pharmacist-led medication reconciliation interventions to usual care, aimed at improving medication reconciliation programmes. Meta-analysis was carried out using a random effects model, and subgroup analysis was conducted to determine the sources of heterogeneity.Results17 studies involving 21 342 adult patients were included. Eight studies were randomised controlled trials (RCTs). Most studies targeted multiple transitions and compared comprehensive medication reconciliation programmes including telephone follow-up/home visit, patient counselling or both, during the first 30 days of follow-up. The pooled relative risks showed a more substantial reduction of 67%, 28% and 19% in adverse drug event-related hospital revisits (RR 0.33; 95% CI 0.20 to 0.53), emergency department (ED) visits (RR 0.72; 95% CI 0.57 to 0.92) and hospital readmissions (RR 0.81; 95% CI 0.70 to 0.95) in the intervention group than in the usual care group, respectively. The pooled data on mortality (RR 1.05; 95% CI 0.95 to 1.16) and composite readmission and/or ED visit (RR 0.95; 95% CI 0.90 to 1.00) did not differ among the groups. There was significant heterogeneity in the results related to readmissions and ED visits, however. Subgroup analyses based on study design and outcome timing did not show statistically significant results.ConclusionPharmacist-led medication reconciliation programmes are effective at improving post-hospital healthcare utilisation. This review supports the implementation of pharmacist-led medication reconciliation programmes that include some component aimed at improving medication safety.

Adverse drug events are a leading cause of emergency department visits and unplanned admissions, and prolong hospital stays. Medication review interventions aim to identify adverse drug events and optimize medication use. Previous evaluations of in-hospital medication reviews have focused on interventions at discharge, with an unclear effect on health outcomes. We assessed the effect of early in-hospital pharmacist-led medication review on the health outcomes of high-risk patients. We used a quasi-randomized design to evaluate a quality improvement project in three hospitals in British Columbia, Canada. We incorporated a clinical decision rule into emergency department triage pathways, allowing nurses to identify patients at high-risk for adverse drug events. After randomly selecting the first eligible patient for participation, clinical pharmacists systematically allocated subsequent high-risk patients to medication review or usual care. Medication review included obtaining a best possible medication history and reviewing the patient's medications for appropriateness and adverse drug events. The primary outcome was the number of days spent in-hospital over 30 days, and was ascertained using administrative data. We used median and inverse propensity score weighted logistic regression modeling to determine the effect of pharmacist-led medication review on downstream health services use. Of 10,807 high-risk patients, 6,416 received early pharmacist-led medication review and 4,391 usual care. Their baseline characteristics were balanced. The median number of hospital days was reduced by 0.48 days (95% confidence intervals [CI] = 0.00 to 0.96; p = 0.058) in the medication review group compared to usual care, representing an 8% reduction in the median length of stay. Among patients under 80 years of age, the median number of hospital days was reduced by 0.60 days (95% CI = 0.06 to 1.17; p = 0.03), representing 11% reduction in the median length of stay. There was no significant effect on emergency department revisits, admissions, readmissions, or mortality. We were limited by our inability to conduct a randomized controlled trial, but used quasi-random patient allocation methods and propensity score modeling to ensure balance between treatment groups, and administrative data to ensure blinded outcomes ascertainment. We were unable to account for alternate level of care days, and therefore, may have underestimated the treatment effect in frail elderly patients who are likely to remain in hospital while awaiting long-term care. Early pharmacist-led medication review was associated with reduced hospital-bed utilization compared to usual care among high-risk patients under 80 years of age, but not among those who were older. The results of our evaluation suggest that medication review by pharmacists in the emergency department may impact the length of hospital stay in select patient populations.

Background Improving medication safety implies patient-centred multidisciplinary cooperation. During the hospital stay for an acute care episode, the patient needs a comprehensive management to guarantee the best possible outcome. Methods The study was designed as a non-blinded, multicentre stepped-wedge cluster randomised clinical trial, taking place in six French University Hospitals. Each cluster began with the control period in which standard care did not include pharmaceutical intervention. Every 14-day period, one hospital unit was electronically randomised to switch to the intervention period until all cluster groups received the intervention, which consisted of collaborative pharmaceutical care (CPC) associating medication reconciliation at hospital admission, pharmaceutical analysis of the medication order, medication review and collaborative meeting. The primary outcome was assessing the intervention through the rate of patients with at least one medication error (ME) on the admission medication order (such as omission, wrong dose or wrong route of administration), comparing the two periods. Results CPC decreased the rate of patients with at least one ME from 88.9% (n = 243) to 29.2% (n = 267) ( p  < 0.0001). A total of 1817 MEs were discovered, of which 1121 (61.7%) were in the control period and 696 (38.3%) in the intervention period before resolution by the CPC. After resolving 567 of them, 129 medication errors still remained after CPC. So, a median of 3 MEs [IQR = 1;6] per patient were detected in the control period vs 0 [IQR = 0;1] after CPC in the intervention period ( p  < 0.0001). Patients were 21-times more likely to avoid a ME with CPC (OR: 20.8 [8.3;52.2], p  < 0.0001). The rate of patients with a 2–3 critical ME level decreased from 70.8% to 12.0% in the control vs intervention periods respectively (OR: 18.4 [7.7;43.9], p  < 0.0001). Conclusions CPC can prevent the occurrence of MEs and thus can improve inpatients’ medication management and safety. Pharmacists play a key role in combating medication-related harm in healthcare settings. Trial registration This study is registered on ClinicalTrials.gov with the reference number NCT02598115 (2015–11–04).

Background Chronic kidney disease of uncertain etiology (CKDu) is chronic kidney disease (CKD) where etiology is uncertain. CKDu is predominant among farmers in North Central Province (NCP), Sri Lanka. CKD remains asymptomatic until advanced stages. As disease progresses, patients experience comorbidities (anemia, bone mineral disorder, cardiovascular complications). Increasing medication burden contributes to challenges in medication adherence. Several factors cause impairments and reduce quality of life (QOL). Studies assessing clinical pharmacy services on medication adherence and QOL among CKDu patients are scarce. This study evaluated impact of clinical pharmacy services on medication adherence and QOL among CKDu outpatients at a tertiary hospital in NCP, Sri Lanka. Methods A randomized controlled trial was conducted in pre-dialysis renal clinics, enrolling patients diagnosed with CKDu stages 4 or 5. Sealed envelope technique was used to randomize participants to control group (CG) or intervention group (IG). IG received standard care plus four counselling sessions by the clinical pharmacist. Medication name, dose, frequency, and side effects were counselled over 12 months (at recruitment, two, six and ten months). CG received standard care. Demographics were collected at recruitment. Self-reported medication adherence and QOL were assessed at baseline and after 12 months using Brief Medication Questionnaire (BMQ) [Median, Inter Quartile Range (IQR)] and Kidney Disease Quality of Life-Short Form (KDQOL-SF), [Mean, Standard Deviation (SD)] respectively. Three summary QOL scores were calculated: Kidney Disease Component Summary (KDCS), Physical Component Summary (PCS), and Mental Component Summary (MCS). Mann-Whitney U test and independent samples t-test were used in analysis. Results Of 252 participants, 196 completed study (CG = 99,IG = 97). Total BMQ scores were significantly lower in IG (3 [2-4]) compared to CG (5 [4-5])( p  < 0.001), indicating better medication adherence. Three QOL scores were higher in IG: KDCS 79.35(± 9.20) vs. 70.90 (± 12.60)( p  < 0.001), PCS 67.92(± 18.42) vs. 47.39(± 19.73)( p  < 0.001), and MCS 88.52 (± 16.67) vs. 80.07(± 16.77)( p  = 0.001). Conclusions Intervention significantly enhanced medication adherence and QOL among pre-dialysis patients with CKDu, demonstrating the positive impact of added clinical pharmacy services to existing healthcare team in managing CKD patients. Trial registration The trial was prospectively registered in the Sri Lanka Clinical Trials Registry on 16th of December 2015. Trial registration number was SLCTR/2015/030. ( https://slctr.lk/trials/slctr-2015-030 )

Background. The role of environmental contamination in nosocomial cross-transmission of antibiotic-resistant bacteria has been unresolved. Using vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) as a marker organism, we investigated the effects of improved environmental cleaning with and without promotion of hand hygiene adherence on the spread of VRE in a medical intensive care unit. Methods. The study comprised a baseline period (period 1), a period of educational intervention to improve environmental cleaning (period 2), a “washout” period without any specific intervention (period 3), and a period of multimodal hand hygiene intervention (period 4). We performed cultures for VRE of rectal swab samples obtained from patients at admission to the intensive care unit and daily thereafter, and we performed cultures of environmental samples and samples from the hands of health care workers twice weekly. We measured patient clinical and demographic variables and monitored intervention adherence frequently. Results. Our study included 748 admissions to the intensive care unit over a 9-month period. VRE acquisition rates were 33.47 cases per 1000 patient-days at risk for period 1 and 16.84, 12.09, and 10.40 cases per 1000 patient-days at risk for periods 2, 3, and 4, respectively. The mean (±SD) weekly rate of environmental sites cleaned increased from 0.48 ± 0.08 at baseline to 0.87 ± 0.08 in period 2; similarly high cleaning rates persisted in periods 3 and 4. Mean (±SD) weekly hand hygiene adherence rate was 0.40 ± 0.01 at baseline and increased to 0.57 ± 0.11 in period 2, without a specific intervention to improve adherence, but decreased to 0.29 ± 0.26 in period 3 and 0.43 ± 0.1 in period 4. Mean proportions of positive results of cultures of environmental and hand samples decreased in period 2 and remained low thereafter. In a Cox proportional hazards model, the hazard ratio for acquiring VRE during periods 2–4 was 0.36 (95% confidence interval, 0.19–0.68); the only determinant explaining the difference in VRE acquisition was admission to the intensive care unit during period 1. Conclusions. Decreasing environmental contamination may help to control the spread of some antibiotic-resistant bacteria in hospitals.

Pharmacy Intravenous Admixture Services (PIVAS) are places dedicated to the centralized dispensing of intravenous drugs, usually managed and operated by professional pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, and are an integral part of modern healthcare. However, the workflow of PIVAS has some problems, such as low efficiency and error-prone. This study aims to improve the efficiency of drug dispensing, reduce the rate of manual misjudgment, and minimize drug errors by conducting an in-depth study of the entire workflow of PIVAS and applying image recognition technology to the drug checking and dispensing process. Firstly, through experimental comparison, a target detection model suitable for drug category recognition is selected in the drug-checking process of PIVAS, and it is improved to improve the recognition accuracy and speed of intravenous drug categories. Secondly, a corner detection model for drug dosage recognition was studied in the drug dispensing stage to further increase drug dispensing accuracy. Then the PIVAS drug category recognition system and PIVAS drug dosage recognition system were designed and implemented.

ObjectivesTo investigate the performance and risk associated with the usage of Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT) to answer drug-related questions.MethodsA sample of 50 drug-related questions were consecutively collected and entered in the artificial intelligence software application ChatGPT. Answers were documented and rated in a standardised consensus process by six senior hospital pharmacists in the domains content (correct, incomplete, false), patient management (possible, insufficient, not possible) and risk (no risk, low risk, high risk). As reference, answers were researched in adherence to the German guideline of drug information and stratified in four categories according to the sources used. In addition, the reproducibility of ChatGPT’s answers was analysed by entering three questions at different timepoints repeatedly (day 1, day 2, week 2, week 3).ResultsOverall, only 13 of 50 answers provided correct content and had enough information to initiate management with no risk of patient harm. The majority of answers were either false (38%, n=19) or had partly correct content (36%, n=18) and no references were provided. A high risk of patient harm was likely in 26% (n=13) of the cases and risk was judged low for 28% (n=14) of the cases. In all high-risk cases, actions could have been initiated based on the provided information. The answers of ChatGPT varied over time when entered repeatedly and only three out of 12 answers were identical, showing no reproducibility to low reproducibility.ConclusionIn a real-world sample of 50 drug-related questions, ChatGPT answered the majority of questions wrong or partly wrong. The use of artificial intelligence applications in drug information is not possible as long as barriers like wrong content, missing references and reproducibility remain.

To synthesize evidence and identify gaps in the literature on environmental cleaning and disinfection in the operating room based on a human factors and systems engineering approach guided by the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) model. A systematic scoping review. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, we searched 4 databases (ie, PubMed, EMBASE, OVID, CINAHL) for empirical studies on operating-room cleaning and disinfection. Studies were categorized based on their objectives and designs and were coded using the SEIPS model. The quality of randomized controlled trials and quasi-experimental studies with a nonequivalent groups design was assessed using version 2 of the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for randomized trials. In total, 40 studies were reviewed and categorized into 3 groups: observational studies examining the effectiveness of operating-room cleaning and disinfections (11 studies), observational study assessing compliance with operating-room cleaning and disinfection (1 study), and interventional studies to improve operating-room cleaning and disinfection (28 studies). The SEIPS-based analysis only identified 3 observational studies examining individual work-system components influencing the effectiveness of operating-room cleaning and disinfection. Furthermore, most interventional studies addressed single work-system components, including tools and technologies (20 studies), tasks (3 studies), and organization (3 studies). Only 2 studies implemented interventions targeting multiple work-system components. The existing literature shows suboptimal compliance and inconsistent effectiveness of operating-room cleaning and disinfection. Improvement efforts have been largely focused on cleaning and disinfection tools and technologies and staff monitoring and training. Future research is needed (1) to systematically examine work-system factors influencing operating-room cleaning and disinfection and (2) to redesign the entire work system to optimize operating-room cleaning and disinfection.