Patient and medicines safety

Overview

The safety of patients is a key concern for all health professionals, including prescribers, dispensers and carers.

This can manifest itself in the proper and diligent care of clients and patients and reducing factors that may affect the delivery of such care, as well as in the safe prescribing, dispensing, and storage of medicines and medicaments.

Pharmacists, traditionally as dispensers and now also as prescribers, play key roles in identifying and reducing these risks.

What the group does

This multi-disciplinary group investigates the factors associated with risks to patient safety, the safety of medicines, as well as the links between them. It undertakes research into these aspects within community and hospital settings, as well as in the laboratory.

Key projects

The patient and medicines safety group has a number of areas of interest which members monitor on a regular basis, including:

• A General Medical Council (GMC)-funded study investigating the prevalence and causes of prescribing errors in general practice was awarded to members of the Centre. The study involved a case note review of random sample of patients across three Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) in England. This was to detect potential prescribing and monitoring errors in general practice in England. Interviews and root cause analyses are being carried out with GPs and practice staff involved. The study has been completed and the report was published in April by the GMC. It has attracted very high levels of attention by the media.  
• Further areas targeted by the group include issues around patient safety in hospitals. A recent handover practice paper drafted by the Centre researchers (Dr C Pezzolesi – CP et al) has been recently identified in Switzerland as the best patient safety study of the month by an independent panel of Swiss researchers. Furthermore, CP is now working in collaboration with the Luton and Dunstable University Hospital on an educational research project focusing on specific patient safety issues.      
• Other areas of interest for the Centre researchers/PhD students revolve around medication incidents/reconciliation issues as root causes behind hospitalisations in the elderly. Indeed, during the latest academic year a number of MPharm students have worked on final year projects relating to medication-related problems detected in community pharmacy.  
• Finally, some specific mindfulness-based approaches and patient safety are being further investigated at present (Dr C Pezzolesi and Dr A Kostrzewski). Of particular importance seems to be the role of human factors and their link to medication errors. In particular, the Centre researchers are investigating the role of mindfulness in reflective practice and its impact on medication errors.

Key grant awards

Recent awards include:

• Ghaleb M, Dhillon S. Prevalence and causes of prescribing errors in general practice. General Medical Council, £24,000 (2011-2012).
• Dhillon S, Aslanpour Z. Research Consultancy (MRPs in Asian and Middle Eastern patients). The London School of Pharmacy, £24,599 (2011-2014).
• Opara N. Research consultancy: ’Research facilitator for community pharmacies in Hertfordshire’. Funded by the NIHR Primary Care Research Network (2012).