The impact of a health technology improvement program on medication errors in three large, teaching hospitals in London Ontario
Abstract
Medication errors and discrepancies occur frequently at transitions of care in inpatient settings and can lead to adverse drug events. This retrospective cohort study involving older adults has a pre-post design and is set in London, Ontario. This study evaluates the impact of a healthcare technology program called HUGO on the proportion of patient hospitalizations in which an antipsychotic, benzodiazepine or gastric acid suppressant medication was potentially continued inappropriately (i.e. continued after discharge with no medical indication for continued use). After HUGO’s implementation, the proportion of hospitalizations where a potentially inappropriate antipsychotic, benzodiazepine, or gastric acid suppressant medication was filled post-discharge decreased abruptly by 7.0% (p<0.0001), and there was a significant (p=0.0001) decrease in the potentially inappropriate continuation of these medications over time. Had HUGO not been implemented, the pre-HUGO trend suggests that potentially inappropriate continuation of these medications may have continued to increase.