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SMASH! The Salford medication safety dashboard

Williams, Richard; Keers, Richard; Gude, Wouter T.; Jeffries, Mark; Davies, Colin; Brown, Benjamin; Kontopantelis, Evangelos; Avery, Anthony J.; Ashcroft, Darren M.; Peek, Niels

Authors

Richard Williams

Richard Keers

Wouter T. Gude

Mark Jeffries

Colin Davies

Benjamin Brown

Evangelos Kontopantelis

Darren M. Ashcroft

Niels Peek



Abstract

Background: Patient safety is vital to well-functioning health systems. A key component is safe prescribing, particularly in primary care where most medications are prescribed. Previous research demonstrated that the number of patients exposed to potentially hazardous prescribing can be reduced by interrogating the electronic health record (EHR) database of general practices and providing feedback to general practitioners in a pharmacist-led intervention. We aimed to develop and roll out an online dashboard application that delivers this audit and feedback intervention in a continuous fashion.

Method: Based on initial system requirements we designed the dashboard’s user interface over 3 iterations with 6 general practitioners (GPs), 7 pharmacists and a member of the public. Prescribing safety indicators from previous work were implemented in the dashboard. Pharmacists were trained to use the intervention and deliver it to general practices.

Results: A web-based electronic dashboard was developed and linked to shared care records in Salford, UK. The completed dashboard was deployed in all but one (n=43) general practices in the region. By November 2017, 36 pharmacists had been trained in delivering the intervention to practices. There were 135 registered users of the dashboard, with an average of 91 user sessions a week.

Conclusion: We have developed and successfully rolled out of a complex, pharmacist-led dashboard intervention in Salford, UK. System usage statistics indicate broad and sustained uptake of the intervention. The use of systems that provide regularly updated audit information may be an important contributor towards medication safety in primary care.

Citation

Williams, R., Keers, R., Gude, W. T., Jeffries, M., Davies, C., Brown, B., …Peek, N. (2018). SMASH! The Salford medication safety dashboard. Journal of Innovation in Health Informatics, 25(3), 183-193. https://doi.org/10.14236/jhi.v25i3.1015

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Sep 1, 2018
Online Publication Date Oct 1, 2018
Publication Date Oct 1, 2018
Deposit Date Oct 29, 2018
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Print ISSN 2058-4555
Publisher BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 25
Issue 3
Pages 183-193
DOI https://doi.org/10.14236/jhi.v25i3.1015
Keywords Patient safety; drug prescriptions; electronic audit & feedback; dashboard
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1208564
Publisher URL https://hijournal.bcs.org/index.php/jhi/article/view/1015