4 7.1 13.6 4.9 Provision of dMURs remains extremely low in relation to the numbers of patients discharged. The findings are limited by the self-selection of community pharmacist respondents and the use of estimated rather than actual numbers of dMURs undertaken. Although hospital pharmacy promotional activity was absent in two Trusts and had virtually ceased in the other two Trusts, the higher estimated number of dMURs performed monthly in the
catchment area of hospital C may reflect earlier promotional activity. This relationship between promotion and provision of dMURs is worthy check details of further study. 1. Forster AJ, Murff HJ, Peterson JF et al. The incidence and severity of adverse events affecting patients after discharge from the hospital. Ann Int Med 2003; 138: 161–167. 2. PSNC (2014). http://psnc.org.uk/services-commissioning/advanced-services/murs (accessed 14 March 2014). “
“Objectives To adapt a US Institute for Safe Medication Practices’ Medication Safety Self Assessment (MSSA) tool to, and test its usefulness in, Finnish community pharmacies. Methods A three-round Delphi survey was used to adapt self-assessment characteristics of the US MSSA tool to Finnish requirements, and to obtain a consensus on the feasibility and significance of these characteristics Y27632 in assessing the safety of medication practices in community pharmacies. The Delphi modified self-assessment tool was piloted in
18 community pharmacies in order to refine the tool, using a questionnaire containing structured and open-ended questions. Key findings A total of 211 self-assessment characteristics were accepted to the self-assessment tool for pilot use by expert panellists in the Delphi rounds. Most pilot users considered the tool as useful in: identifying medication safety targets for development; medication safety assessment; and identifying the Urease strengths of medication safety. The substance of the self-assessment tool was considered as comprehensive and essential for medication safety. Most criticism was regarding: the multiplicity of self-assessment characteristics; interpretation
of some characteristics; and that all the characteristics were not yet available. After the modification, according to the pilot users’ comments, the final Finnish tool consisted of 230 medication safety characteristics. Conclusions The study indicated the feasibility of adapting a US medication safety self-assessment tool for use in community pharmacy practice in Finland. More efforts should be made to familiarise Finnish community pharmacists with the self-assessment tool and its benefits, and get them to use the tool as part of their long-term quality improvement. “
“Medication errors are one of the leading causes of harmin health care. Review and analysis of errors have often emphasized their preventable nature and potential for reoccurrence.