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Browsing by Subject "lääkitysturvallisuus"

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  • Mannermaa, Siiri (2023)
    Medication safety is an important target of development in health and social services systems internationally. Medication errors are one of the biggest risk factors in medication safety. Majority of the medication incidents could be avoided by improving the medication treatment process. Patient safety incident reporting systems enable health and social services to collect systematic data from risk factors within the medication treatment process. This study was conducted as a retrospective registry-based study where medication incidents that occurred in health and social care units reported by community pharmacies to the incident reporting system HaiPro from 21st of September 2021 to 31st of October 2022 were analysed. Cases that did not meet the criteria for this study (n=55) were removed from the original data (n=3841). If needed, the nature and type of the reported error were corrected. A descriptive quantitative analysis was conducted for the final data (n=3786) using Microsoft Excel. The number, natures, types, observers, and prescription types of medication errors were investigated from the data. In addition, the most common groups of medicinal substance and high risk medicines were identified. A qualitive content analysis was performed to near miss cases involving high-risk medications (n=446) using the Atlas.ti program. Interventions, measures following the interventions and risks prevented by the measures were identified from the open description in the incident reports. The qualitative analysis was performed as an abductive content analysis. Of the medication errors included in the study (n=3786) 91% were detected by community pharmacies and the majority (68%) of the reported incidents were near misses. Most (96%) of the safety incidents (n=3786) were associated with the patient’s medication treatment and had occurred mostly during the prescribing process (92%). As a result from the prescribing errors, patients were most commonly prescribed wrong dose or strength of the medicine (26%) or the prescription lacked SIC marking (26%). High-risk medications occurred in 16% (n=591) of the incidents (n=3786). Most frequently detected high-risk medications were opioids (35 %). Three quarters (76 %) of safety incidents associated with high-risk medications were near misses (n=446). The majority (92 %) of interventions (n=471) made to prevent safety incidents associated with high-risk medications were made by community pharmacies. The most frequent intervention was community pharmacies contacting the doctor. Based on the HaiPro incident reports made about medication errors in health and social care units reported by community pharmacies, it can be concluded that community pharmacies are a central barrier in primary care medication treatment process. Community pharmacies detect and report medication errors that have occurred in other health and social care units. Safety incidents reported by pharmacies systematically accumulate important information that can be used in the development of medication safety in primary care at a unit, wellbeing services county and national levels.
  • Laakso, Johanna (2022)
    The operation of community pharmacies has developed extensively over the past decades, with special emphasis on medication counselling services. In addition to dispensing, pharmacies can offer various kinds of clinical pharmacy services, such as medication reviews, automated dose dispensing and other services to support rational use of medicines. All this activity requires patient information, which is currently available in pharmacies only from prescriptions, reimbursement information, and by asking the customer. Because of this, a need to increase the availability of patient information in pharmacies has come up. The aim of this study was to determine what kind of patient information should be available in community pharmacies for 1) the statutory dispensing of medicines, the medication counselling and treatment monitoring, and 2) other services related to promotion of health and well-being and prevention of diseases. Furthermore, the study investigated experts' experiences of the sufficiency of patient information in pharmacies, as well as in what form and from what period the information should be available in pharmacies. The study was conducted as a 3-round Delphi study with an expert panel consisting of 20 pharmacists specialized in clinical pharmacy. Consensus was formed with the help of a preliminary patient information list which had been compiled based on the literature and the expertise of the research group (a total of 39 patient data items). The limit of the experts' consensus was set to ≥80%. The Delphi-rounds were conducted as electronic surveys during the spring and summer of 2022. The responses were analysed using quantitative and qualitative methods. Most of the expert panellists (n=20) perceived that the patient information available in community pharmacies was insufficient. This study reached a strong consensus that pharmacies should have quite a large set of patient information available both for dispensing medicines and medication counselling, and for providing services supporting rational use of medicines. Of the patient data items, nine reached the consensus line concerning dispensing of medicines and 31 measures concerning other services. From both points of view, information about the client's diagnoses, blood pressure, and the GFR value indicating kidney function were rated as the most important to be available in community pharmacies. However, the panellists also reported challenges to overcome in the access and utilization of the patient information, for example, related to current legislation, resources, and competences of pharmacists. These aspects should be considered in the development of community pharmacy practice and electronic patient information (e.g., Kanta services).
  • Mäkinen, Emilia (2021)
    Background and objectives: Documenting and processing of dispensing errors at both organizational and national levels is one of the basic preconditions for effective medication risk management. Since the most recently accomplished national register research of dispensing errors in Finland, there have been several changes in the medication dispensing process that advance medication safety. Thus, the previous study does not provide an up-to-date picture of the current situation. The primary objective of this study was to find out the trends in dispensing errors that were reported to the Finnish Pharmacy Association's registry of dispensing errors in 2015–2019. The secondary objective was to identify risk factors expository to dispensing errors in the dispensing process and to review the measures utilized by community pharmacies to prevent dispensing errors. Materials and methods: The retrospective registry study, in which the register of dispensing errors maintained by the Finnish Association of Pharmacists for the period from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2019, was analyzed. Cases that did not fulfil the definition of a dispensing error (n=829) were removed from the original data (n=17763). In addition, clear errors (n=2130) were corrected in the data and cases (n=499) that were initially insufficiently entered in the register were added. 17433 dispensing errors were included in the study. The data was analyzed using Microsoft Excel. The number, qualities, prescription types, observers, therapeutic harms and contributory factors of the dispensing errors were investigated in the data. The most common groups of medicinal substance, high-alert medications and risk factors in the medication dispensing process were identified in the data. In addition, interventions reported by community pharmacies to prevent dispensing errors were collected from the data. Results: The number of cases reported to the dispensing error register has decreased annually (2015 n=3913, 2016 n=3795, 2017 n=3708, 2018 n=3578, 2019 n=2439). The most common types of dispensing errors are incorrect strength (51 % of all the reported dispensing errors) and incorrect quantity or package size (14 %). Slightly more than a half (51 %) of the reported dispensing errors were noticed by medicine users. The percentage of electronic prescriptions in dispensing errors has increased and is clearly the most common prescription type in dispensing errors (2015: 79 %, 2016: 84 %, 2017: 93 %, 2018: 96 %, 2019: 95 %). The majority of dispensing errors occurred with cardiovascular medicines (29 %) and medicines affecting the nervous system (26 %). 7 % of dispensing errors caused therapeutic harm to the medicine user. As a result of dispensing errors, 21 medicine users were hospitalized. 13 % of dispensing errors occurred with high-alert medications (n=2244). The high-alert medications were involved in one-third (n=7) of dispensing errors that led to hospitalization. Factors related to the employee (25 %), similar packaging (19 %), and similar medicine name (15%) were most commonly considered to be the main contributory factors for the occurrence of the dispensing errors. The risk factors identified in the medicine dispensing process were related to the pharmacy system, the characteristics of the prescription, the storage method of the medicine and the characteristics of the medicine packaging. In the automated dose dispensing process, the risk of dispensing error increased if changes had to be made to the dose dispensing order. The risk factors for automated dose dispensing were related to the pharmacy system and the characteristics of the prescription. The community pharmacies had mentioned taking measures to prevent dispensing errors in one-fifth (21 %) of the reported cases. In addition to developing their own operations, community pharmacies saw cooperation with other healthcare professionals as an important factor in preventing medication errors. In addition, community pharmacies reported exposing properties for dispensing errors of pharmaceutical products and systems to pharmaceutical companies and providers of pharmacy systems and automated dose dispensing. Conclusions: Trends, risk factors of the dispensing process and interventions to prevent dispensing errors can be identified in the dispensing errors reported to the Finnish Association of Pharmacists’ dispensing error registry. The dispensing error register provides valuable information on dispensing errors at the national level, but it is no longer able to fulfil completely the current medication safety needs. In the future, the role of the pharmacy as a promoter of medication safety should be perceived as more comprehensive. In the development of medication safety, special attention should be paid to the risk factors of the dispensing process, the high-alert medications and to new risks arising from the increase of electronic prescriptions and automated dose dispensing. In addition, cooperation between pharmacies and other healthcare professionals and the medication safety culture of pharmacies should be further strengthened.
  • Falck, Jenni (2019)
    Biological medicines are gaining ground in drug therapy. However, biological medicines are considerably expensive. Top ten drugs that caused the most drug reimbursement expenses included six biological drugs in Finland in 2017. A biosimilar is a biological medicine which is highly similar to another biological medicine (the reference medicine) that has already approved. Biosimilar prices are cheaper than the original medicines because their clinical development program does not have to be as extensive. A wide use of biosimilars save costs for both the patient and society without changing the effectiveness of drug therapy. The aim of this study is to investigate the automatic substitution of biological drugs containing the same active ingredient, especially from the point of view of medication safety. The study was conducted as a systematic literature review. Literature search was carried out by using Pubmed and Scopus databases. The literature was also searched manually from references of the articles and from the industry experts. The literature search produced a total of 454 articles after the deletion of duplicates. A title, abstract and full text screening was conducted by two independent researchers. All in all, 65 articles met the inclusion criteria of the study. As no studies were found on the automatic substitution of biological medicines from the point of view of medication safety, it was decided to include in the study original studies investigating the substitution of biological drugs from the point of view of doctors (n=8), pharmacists (n=3), patients (n=1) and various stakeholders (n=2). The original studies were all surveys except one study. In addition, the review included statements of various medical associations and organizations (n=23), descriptive reviews (n=27), and expert views (n=2) on the automatic substitution of biological drugs. According to the results of the original studies (n=13), it can be stated that automatic substitution is not considered generally acceptable. Doctors consider it is very important that the pharmacist informs them if substitution occurs. They also think it’s critical that doctors should be able to prevent substitution. Patients are also sceptical about the substitution of biological drugs. The quality of the original studies was assessed by the generalizability of the research results. The generalizability of the results of the original studies is weak due to the methodological shortcomings of the studies. Although the automatic substitution of biological drugs is legal in some countries, such as in France and in Australia, it has not been studied from the point of view of medication safety. In order to be safe to implement automatic substitution of biological medicines, more should be investigated on the subject. From the point of view of medication safety, healthcare professionals and patients will need further target group education on biosimilars. In addition, it should be clarified what kind of education the healthcare professionals and patients would need if the automatic substitution of biological medicines was to be realized.
  • Porru, Anna (2020)
    Medication-related errors have been identified as the single most important risk factor for patient safety across the world. According to previous research, medication errors are common in nursing homes. However, the existing data on medication errors in Finnish nursing homes is scarce, although the challenges and defects in nursing home care services, including drug treatments, are well known. Furthermore, nursing home residents are typically characterized by old age, multimorbidity and polypharmacy. Therefore, they are particularly vulnerable to potential adverse events caused by medication errors. The aim of this study was to investigate the rates and causes of medication errors reported in nursing homes and evaluate their impact on medication safety. Additionally, the proportions of potentially inappropriate medication (PIMs) and high-risk medication involved in the medication errors were determined. The data of the study consisted of 251 medication errors reports that were submitted to the safety incident report system (HaiPro) in nursing homes located in Central Uusimaa healthcare and social welfare joint municipal authority (Keusote) in 2019. Quantitative analysis of the data provided an overview of the medication errors that had occurred in nursing homes and the medicines most commonly involved in them. Content analysis and simplified root cause analysis enabled to study more in-depth the contributing factors of medication errors and potential risks associated with the medication process in nursing homes, as well as the possibilities of preventing similar errors in the future. James Reason's human error theory and in particular its system perspective was applied as a theoretical framework in this study. Medication errors were reported regularly in nursing homes during the follow-up period of the study. The most frequent medication error type was administration error. The majority of these errors were medication omissions, followed by the wrong time of administration and administration to the wrong patient. The most common drug classes causing medication errors were antithrombotics, opioids, antidementia drugs, diuretics, antipsychotics, antidiabetics, and antidepressants. Nearly a quarter of the reported medicines were high-risk medications, most commonly opioids, antithrombotics, or antidiabetic drugs. PIMs accounted for approximately 13% of all medications in the data. Errors were most often caused by unsafe medication practices, communication problems, and deficiencies in the work environment such as excessive workload or time pressure. A significant part of the medication errors were related to transdermal medication patches. The study also showed that the quality of medication error reporting in nursing homes is in part insufficient and should be improved so that the reports can be better used for learning purposes. The results of the study provide valuable additional information on medication errors in Finnish nursing homes and their contributing factors. The information can be used to improve medication safety practices in nursing homes. Safe and uninterrupted medication use process is a goal that should be pursued not only in health care but also in social welfare services such as nursing homes.
  • Heininen, Susanna (2022)
    The medication-use process in hospitals includes several risks which can lead to medication errors. Medication errors can be prevented and managed by adding automation and technology solutions to the medication-use process, such as clinical decision support system (CDSS) integrated into electronic medication administration record (eMAR), unit dose drug distribution system (UDDDS), automated dispensing cabinet (ADC) and bar-code medication administration (BCMA). A closed loop medication management process can be created by integrating different methods and technologies seamlessly. It improves medication safety by decreasing human errors and allows the access to the patient’s medication information in real time. The closed loop medication management process is not yet fully in use in any Finnish hospital, but parts of it have already been implemented. Helsinki University Hospital (HUS) wants to improve the closed loop medication management process by piloting the use of unit dose (UD) bags in the medication- use process and to study its effects on medication safety. The aim of the study was to determine the incidence of the medication dispensing errors and procedural errors, the working time of the nurses, and the nurses' opinions on the current drug dispensing model in a hospital ward before the introduction of the unit dose drug distribution system. The study was conducted as a mixed-method study, which utilized an observational method and an online survey. The data were collected at HUS internal medicine inpatient ward by observing the dispensing of morning medicines for ten days and through an electronic survey sent to the ward’s nurses. The overall incidence of dispensing errors in the current drug dispensing process was 40,1 % (553/1379). Of these, 3,2 % (44/1379) were medication dispensing errors, and after the excluding prescribing errors (n=22), the incidence was 1,6 %. These prescription errors were mainly related to prescribing medications outside the hospital's formulary. In addition, the incidence of procedural errors was 37 % (509/1379). Of the procedural errors, 57 % (292/509) were related to the unattached or missing barcodes and 37 % (186/509) to hygiene deficiencies in drug dispensing. On average, nurses spent 4,5 minutes per patient on medication dispensing and patients had 7 morning medications. The results of the survey also revealed problems related to barcodes as well as hygiene deficiencies, which supported the results of the observations. Significant safety risks, such as unattached barcodes, missing barcodes, and deficiencies in hygiene were identified in the current drug dispensing process. The study indicates that system-based risk management approach is not yet fully understood in hospital units. The root cause of procedural errors should be investigated more and review the ward's instructions with staff, to reduce their incidence in the future. At the end of 2021 a unit dose drug distribution model will be piloted in the ward, which may be one possible way to reduce errors related barcodes and hygiene. In addition, to improve the medication safety, physicians should order medications from hospital's formulary, so that generic substitution would no longer need to be made at the distribution stage. It would be useful to include a category of incorrect orders in the future research setups that investigate medication errors in the dispensing phase to identify such potential risk situations.
  • Lias, Noora (2021)
    Medication reviews can be used to assess the appropriateness of a patient’s medication and to identify and resolve clinically significant drug-related problems. Medication reviews have been highlighted in several health and medicines policy documents as ways to improve medication safety in older adults. Collaborative practices and their development are key strategies in promoting the coordinated care of patients. Medication reviews have been previously defined from a multi-professional perspective but no definition based on multi-professional consensus has been established. The aim of this study was to harmonize the definition of medication review from a multi-professional perspective to suit various healthcare contexts in Finland. The goal was to create a shared understanding for physicians, nurses, pharmacists, information management professionals for their collaboration in reviewing medications. Furthermore, the aim was to define the tasks and responsibilities of different professional groups in collaborative medication reviews in order to support its implementation. The study was conducted as a 3-round survey using the Delphi method. The Delphi method is a qualitative consensus method based on the views of experts aiming at reaching consensus on the studied subject. The Delphi rounds were conducted as electronic surveys in September-December 2020. Expert panelists assessed the proposed definition of a collaborative medication review and the tasks and responsibilities of health care professionals involved in conducting it. The expert panel consisted of 41 participants: 12 physicians, 13 pharmacists, 10 nurses, and 6 information management professionals. The results of the study were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Consensus was reached on the definition of medication review from a multi-professional perspective, while no consensus was reached on most of the responsibilities and tasks of different healthcare professionals involved. Most challenging was to define patient groups benefiting from medication reviews and the situations in which medication reviews should be performed. Therefore, further research is needed to define the division of responsibilities between care team members, for example by defining separately the responsibilities and tasks in different healthcare contexts. This is the most comprehensive attempt taken in Finland to define medication review as a concept from a multi-professional perspective. The results of the study imply to the development and harmonizing of medication review practices and standardizing patient data documentation. The expected outcomes relate to enhanced patient and medication safety, improved coordination in medication management with integrated medication reviews.
  • Luoma, Elisa (2020)
    Family caregiving refers to the organization of home care for an older adult, disabled or sick person with the assistance of a relative or other close person. The number of elderly carers (> 65 years) of all family garegivers is significant. There are challenges concerning family caregiving for the older adults, due to increased age is in connection with decreased physical performance and increased number of medications and polypharmacy. Despite these factors, there has been little research on the medication safety in the family caregiving among older adults. The aim of this Master's thesis was to identify factors influencing the ability of a caregiver to cope with the medication management of the older adults. These factors were divided into subgategories: factors associated a family caregiver, associated a care recipient and system-oriented factors. The research was conducted as a method triangulation, in which the data were collected through two interviews with home visits (n = 21) and related questionnaires. The questionnaire data were quantitatively analyzed by calculating the frequencies and relative frequencies. The transcribed interviews were analyzed by abductive content analysis, combining both deductive and inductive approach. James Reason's theory of human error was used as the theoretical framework. Caregiving families participating in this research were very different compared with each other. Some family caregivers and care recipients were in good physical condition while others were severely disabled. However, the situation of the families was not individually considered when considering appropriate support services for the families. The workload of family caregivers due to the pain and the absence of days off contributed to the difficulty of medication management. The foremost system-oriented challenges in the management of the medications were: 1) difficult for the families to reach the physician and 2) for those families where assisted home care helped the caregiver, the families were not satisfied with its functioning. Due to the poor availability of physicians and the lack of a family physician, there was no one in control of the medication as a whole and there was inadequate monitoring of the medication. In the assisted home care, challenges were caused by the fact that home care visits were conducted over a wide period of time, which created challenges for giving the medications. Carers do not receive sufficient support from the society for the management of the medications. The medication safety of the older adults in the family caregiving is particularly affected by the difficulty of reaching a physician, the inadequacy of support from the assisted home care, the failure to recognize the individuality of caregiving families, and the caregivers’ burden due to pain and lack of days off. Support for caregivers must be at the forefront of society in the future, so that caregivers can cope with heavy nursing care and complicated medications, even without excessive self-activity.
  • Karasti, Eveliina (2019)
    The amount of informal caregiving has increased in Finland, with a growing emphasis on the older adults. Although the medication management process in informal caregiving has been studied and is known to have significant risks, research data focusing on the older adults is still limited. The aim of this study was to describe the medication management process of informal carers and care recipients of at least 65 years old. The aim was to identify medication errors and medication risks in the medication management process and to find out how the caregivers manage them. In addition, the study examined the informal carers and care recipients own development proposals to improve medication management process. A total of 21 volunteer informal carers and care recipients living in the Helsinki metropolitan area were recruited to this study. The study was conducted as a qualitative interview survey in the homes of the participants. The interviews were a combination of semi-structured interviews and narrative approach. The material to this study was collected during spring and summer 2018. The study was analysed with abductive content analysis combining both deductive and inductive approach. The aim was to find repetitive elements by encoding and grouping expressions. The results of this study were compared with previous theory and the results were supplemented with a picture of the medication management process and a fishbone diagram was drawn from the risk factors and contributing factors of the medication management process. The families had medication errors in all stages of the medication management process. The most frequent medication errors were found in counselling, medication administration and in medication treatment monitoring. As a contributing factor, the healthcare professionals’ haste and the responsibility of the caregiver recurred in the background of the medication errors. Family caregivers and care recipients wish to have more counselling, more monitoring of medication and better interaction with health care. Carers often felt left alone to take care of another person's medications and felt they lack support from healthcare. By facilitating access to a physician, improving the availability of a physician, increasing the amount of counseling and support provided by healthcare, including pharmacies, could the safety of medication management at home be improved.
  • Saavalainen, Anu (2022)
    Medication related risks have been identified as one of the main threats to patient safety, both internationally and nationally. In Finland, implementation of pharmacotherapy in health services system is guided by the Safe pharmacotherapy -guideline. The guideline instructs work units to implement a pharmacotherapy plan, which is a statu-tory quality management document to describe the unit’s pharmacotherapy process and related responsibilities and obligations. However, there is currently limited research data available on pharmacotherapy plans and their impact on medication safety. The aim of this study was to explore the use of pharmacotherapy plans as a tool for promoting medication safety in the Finnish health services system with an emphasis on systems-based risk management. The research was con-ducted as an electronic survey in November-December 2021. The target group of the survey was health care professionals licensed as nurses and pharmacists who are working in wards or clinics or otherwise participate in drawing up or updating of pharmacotherapy plans. The study analyzed 901 responses. Most respondents (90 %) worked as licensed nurses and 10 % as pharmacists. The majority of the respondents’ units (91,5 %, n=824) had a pharmacotherapy plan. Medication safety practices were comprehensively described in pharmacotherapy plans and no significant differences observed between work environments. The multi-professional development processes of pharmacotherapy plans were not complete, only 11,6 % of the units the writing was done in multi-professional collaboration. Medication safety practices were best implemented in university hospitals (m. 3,87, sd. 0,57), with the difference being statistically significant for primary healthcare wards (m. 3,51, sd. 0,63, p<0,001) and social care housing services units (m. 3,63, sd, 0,68, p=0,018). The comprehensiveness of the content in pharmacotherapy plans and the implementation of medication safety practices were correlated (r=0,60, p<0,001). Pharmacotherapy plan is an important tool for systems-based medication safety promotion in the Finnish health services system. There is need for improvement in the multi-professional collaboration when developing the plans and in training the healthcare staff of practices described in the unit’s pharmacotherapy plans. In the future, special emphasis should be placed on the medication safety and development of primary healthcare wards and social care units.
  • Hitonen, Heidi (2013)
    About 10 % of the patients experience an adverse event during their treatment. About 1 % of the adverse events are serious. Extrapolated from international evidence adverse events cause death of 700 - 1700 patients annually in Finland. Medication errors are the most common single preventable cause of adverse events. According to several studies about half of the adverse events and medication errors are preventable. Therefore medication safety is a central part of the Finnish Patient Safety Strategy. One of the medication safety tools in Finland is unit-based pharmacotherapy plan for which the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health gives instructions in the Safe Pharmacotherapy guide. All social and healthcare units should develop a pharmacotherapy plan which describes the medication processes in the unit. The purpose is to harmonise the principles for the provision of pharmacotherapy, to clarify the division of responsibilities related to its provision, and to define the minimum requirements that must be complied. The aim of the study was to explore how the pharmacotherapy plans were made and to evaluate their implementation and benefits in hospitals, health centres and social care units for the elderly. Pharmacotherapy plans are studied as part of the Finnish Patient Safety Strategy, focusing on medication safety. Head nurses were chosen as target group. The data was collected by phone interviews. Forty (8 %) interviews were received from a random sample that was taken from a register of head nurses held by Tehy ry. The interview was semi-structured theme interview and the data was analysed using content analysis. Most of the studied units (n= 24, 60 %) had started to formulate the pharmacotherapy plan in 2007, soon after the Safe Pharmacotherapy guide was published. Pharmacotherapy plans were drawn up on organisation and/or unit level. There was a lot of variety in the working groups' sizes and professionals taking part in them. More instructions would have been needed. The most common way (n=20, 50 %) to induct the pharmacotherapy plan to the staff was to introduce it at the unit meeting. Most commonly mentioned changes to the operations in the units were related to error reporting (n=15, 38 %), certification procedures for distribution and administration of medicines (n=9, 23 %) and task allocation (n=8, 20 %). There were several benefits of the pharmacotherapy plan of which most common were starting or developing error reporting (n=19, 48 %), clarification and better availability of instructions (n=18, 45 %), better induction of new staff members and substitutes (n=16, 40 %) and standardization of procedures (n=10, 25 %). Allocation of tasks and responsibilities was considered a challenge in developing and using the pharmacotherapy plan. Limited resources caused difficulties in implementing and using the pharmacotherapy plan. The staffs' medication education was kept more up-to date after introduction of the pharmacotherapy plan but the education was also challenging for the units. Pharmacotherapy plans made the units develop their procedures and increased understanding of medication safety. All in all the plans have worked well as part of the Patient Safety Strategy. However the systematic development of the pharmacotherapy and the use of pharmacotherapy plans in social and healthcare units requires more effort.
  • Mononen, Anna (2012)
    Herbal preparations are widely used nowadays and the information given has developed a lot during the last decades. Herbal preparations haven`t been acknowledged as medicines and therefore their efficacy and adverse effects are still often underrated. In 2005 along the changes in legislation differently legislated group of herbal preparations was retired. Nowadays herbal preparations are divided to drugs and food products. The aim of the study was to make oneself familiar with the legislation of these products and the evolution of the pharmaceutical information given. The aim also was to compare warnings, prohibitions, contraindications and their evolution to prevalent legislation. The material of the study consisted of product information summaries, patient information leaflets and labeling of herbal medicines, traditional herbal medicines and their predecessors. In addition to this there was also other legislative material. Only herbal medicines and traditional herbal medicines according to directive 2004/24/EY of the European parliament and the council`s definition were taken in to account. According to 2004/24/EY herbal medicinal products is any medicinal product, exclusively containing as active ingredients one or more herbal substances or one or more herbal preparations, or one or more such herbal substances in combination with one or more such herbal preparations. There were all together 194 products included in the study. Documentation of 184 products was found on paper in Fimea`s archives. Of the remaining five out of ten products it was found some basic information in electronic rohdos-register and of one product on an on paper final act. Data of these six products was only used partly because of its deficiencies. The data of four products wasn`t found. Under a more detailed study there was all together 184 products between 1964 and 2011. The material was divided to time periods 1964 - 1983, 1984 - 1987, 1988 - 1995, 1996 - 2005 and 2006 - 2011 by the changes in legislation. The information given of herbal preparations was the most affected by the changes in legislation in 1994 and 2005. The amount of new licenses was increasing until the time period 1988 - 1995. Licenses were granted the most during 1988 - 1955. After 1996 the amount of warnings, prohibitions and contraindications rose and many of the products that got the license in previous time period 1966 - 1955 left the market or transferred under the food legislation. As well many products with less consumption left the market because new studies demanded were expensive and cumbersome. In 2005 along the changes in legislation a clear change in attitudes came true, when a vague group of herbal preparations was removed and herbal preparations were divided into pharmaceuticals and food products. Along this change it has become easier for health care professionals to assess the risks and benefits of herbal preparations and advise the clients while making the decisions.
  • Rantanen, Heta (2020)
    Iäkkäiden määrän lisääntyminen aiheuttaa tarpeen kehittää ja tutkia uusia lääkkeitä sekä lääkemuotoja entistä enemmän. Iän tuomat fysiologiset muutokset sekä useat sairaudet voivat aiheuttaa ongelmia perinteisten lääkkeiden annostelussa. Annosteluongelmien ratkaiseminen lääkemuodon muokkaamisella voi kuitenkin aiheuttaa riskin lääkitysturvallisuudelle. Tämän pro gradu -tutkielman tarkoituksena oli tutkia iäkkäitä potilaita hoitavien lääkäreiden kohtaamia lääkemuotoihin liittyviä ongelmia. Tutkimuksen avulla pyrittiin selvittämään, kohtaavatko lääkärit hoitotyössä lääkemuotojen aiheuttamia ongelmia, ja minkälaisia ongelmia lääkärit kohtaavat. Lisäksi lääkäreiden haastatteluissa esiinnousseita teemoja verrattiin hoitajien kolmen päivän seurantajakson aikana verkkokyselylomakkeelle kirjaamiin lääkemuotoihin liittyviin käytännön ongelmiin, joita käytännön hoitotyössä palveluasumisen yksiköissä ilmeni aiemmin toteutetussa tutkimuksessa. Tutkimuksessa haastateltiin viittä lääkäriä, joilla oli kokemusta iäkkäiden lääkehoidosta. Lääkärit etsittiin tutkimukseen mukaan sosiaalisen median kautta hakuilmoituksella. Puolistrukturoidut haastattelut nauhoitettiin ja litteroinnin jälkeen niiden analysoinnissa käytettiin aineistolähtöistä sisällönanalyysiä. Tabletteihin liittyviksi ongelmiksi lääkärit mainitsivat niiden ison koon ja pintaominaisuudet, joiden vuoksi niiden nieleminen vaikeutuu. Muita ongelmia olivat tablettien tunnistettavuus, jakouurteen puute sekä sopivien vahvuuksien puute, vaikkakin yleisesti lääkäreiden mielestä eri vahvuuksia on tarpeeksi markkinoilla. Kapseleiden ongelmiksi lääkärit mainitsivat myös ison koon sekä epäselvyyden siitä, saako kapselia avata vai ei. Oraaliliuosten ongelmiksi koettiin paha maku, liian laimeat vahvuudet, lasku- ja mittaamisvirheen riski sekä sekaantumisen vaara. Lääkelaastarit jakoivat mielipiteitä, mutta niiden ongelmiksi lueteltiin muun muassa iho-oireet ja laastarin irtoaminen. Yleisesti lääkärit eivät olleet tablettien murskaamisen kannalla, mutta jokainen haastatelluista lääkäreistä totesi murskaamisen olevan joissakin tilanteissa ainoa vaihtoehto. Lisäksi lääkärit luettelivat useita lääkemuotoihin liittymättömiä ongelmia, jotka liittyivät sekä potilaaseen mutta myös terveydenhuoltojärjestelmään. Jotta lääkemuotoihin liittyviä ongelmia voitaisiin vähentää, tulisi iäkkäiden kohdalla aina arvioida lääkehoito säännöllisesti. Arvioinnin perusteella iäkkäälle voitaisiin valita hänelle parhaiten sopivat lääkemuodot ja huolehtia siitä, ettei tarpeettomia valmisteita ole käytössä. Lääketeollisuuden ja lääkeviranomaisten vastuulla on edistää lääkkeiden kehitystä ja uusien innovaatioiden tuomista markkinoille. Käytännössä lääketeollisuus voi helpottaa terveydenhuollon ammattilaisten työtä tuottamalla selkeitä lääkeinformaatiotekstejä, joilla voisi esimerkiksi helpottaa murskaamispäätöksen tekemistä.
  • Tikkanen, Johanna (2020)
    Between 5% and 57% of patients experience an adverse drug event during their hospitalization. Reducing medication errors can help prevent adverse drug events. A particular risk for medication errors arises when a patient moves between home and care centers if accurate medication information is not transferred with the patient. Medication reconciliation is a process to ensure accurate and comprehensive medication information across transitions of care. The aim of the study was to find out how many and what kind of discrepancies can be detected by performing medication reconciliation in a primary care unit. In addition, pharmacists and nurses experiences of the medication reconciliation process and the medication reconciliation form were examined. Both quantitative and qualitative data were used in the study. Quantitative study data consisted of all Medication reconciliation forms (PASQ) completed in January-June 2014. Data were analyzed using quantitative descriptive methods. The qualitative research material consisted of six individual interviews conducted in June 2014. The material was subjected to inductive thematic content analysis. Patients (n = 117) had a mean age of 81 years and almost all (n = 105) had at least six regularly used medications after medications were reconciled. Almost every patient (n = 115, 98.3%) had at least one discrepancy in their medication compared to the patient information system. On average, patients had seven discrepancies in their medication lists. The most discrepancies were associated with psycholeptics (9.5% of all discrepncies). The most common types of discrepancies were new drug (45.4% of all discrepancies) and discontinued drug (19.6%). Nurses and pharmacists saw the medication reconciliation process as an important part of successful patient care. Challenges associated with reconciling medications were caused by lack of time, the fragmentation of information systems and the health status of patients (information given by patients could not be trusted). Only one-third of the patients were interviewed, although international publications on medication reconciliation strongly emphasize patient involvement. The results of this study are in line with previous research and confirm the view that medication reconciliation should always be done across all transitions in care. The role of the patient as part of the medication reconciliation process should be further emphasized in the future, as only interviewing the patient can provide a true picture of the patient's medication.
  • Kallio, Rosanna (2017)
    A large part of patient safety incidents in health care is related to medicines and medication treatment. Medication safety is an important part of patient safety. In particular, transitions of care endangers continuity of care and patient safety. A poor flow of information between health care units increases a risk of medication errors. An accurate and up-to-date medication list can improve transfer of correct medical information with the patient. In addition to the medication list other organization-level defences are important to patient and medication safety. This study is part of a larger regional development project concerning reformation of service delivery in health and social care. One of the purposes of the project is to integrate health and social services of municipalities in central Uusimaa (Hyvinkää, Mäntsälä, Pornainen, Järvenpää, Nurmijärvi and Tuusula). The aim of this study was to investigate what kinds of medication lists are available in these municipalities and to design a medication list maintained by the patient which is regionally shared. The second aim of the study was to identify defences used by the municipal healthcare systems and to develop a medication management process model for the municipalities. The material consisted of medication lists from the municipalities participating in the study. Twelve (12) lists were selected for analysis. The medication list of Lääkekortti.fi was also included in the analysis (N=13). Data of the defences was collected by a questionnaire. In Hyvinkää the material was collected from primary health care and Hyvinkää hospital. Both the medication list and the defence data were systematically reviewed and collected in a Microsoft Excel table. The regional medication list for patients was developed based on the medication list data and the existing literature. The process model for medical treatment was developed based on the defence data. Almost every medication list contained space for personal data (n=11) and basic medication information, such as the name of the drug (n=12), strength (n=12) and dosage (n=13). Regular medication was usually separated from as-needed medication (n=8). Only two of the lists had a column for periodic medication. There were only two lists with columns for over-the-counter medicines and herbal products. Less than half of the lists (n=5) had space for indication. According to the survey, most of the defences listed in the questionnaire were used in all or almost all municipalities. According to the responses, medication lists, for example, are regularly reviewed. Some gaps in defences also emerged. Only in two municipalities high-alert medications were identified. Also only in two municipalities attention was paid to the storage of look-alike medicines. Written instructions for managing medication errors was available only in two municipalities. There are many different medication lists available in health care. A regionally shared medication list maintained by the patient can improve the transfer of the up-to-date medical information with the patient. The list must be comprehensive and easy to use. Both the patient and the healthcare professionals should be responsible for maintaining the accurate medication list. Most of the defences asked in the questionnaire have been taken into account in pharmacotherapy plans. In practice, however, the implementation of defences is unclear. For example patients' medication lists often contain errors even though lists should be reviewed regularly. There should be exact instructions as well as clearly defined roles and responsibilities for medication reconciliation. More attention should also be paid to the use of high-alert and look-alike medicines. Since errors occur despite the defenses, every health care unit should have written instructions in case of medication errors.
  • Koskinen, Kati (2013)
    Ensuring patient and medication safety is a widely acknowledged challenge in health care. Key concepts in medication safety are: a patient safety incident, a safety barrier, and a medication error. A patient safety incident is an incident which has led or could have led to harm for the patient. A safety barrier is a structure built into the medication use process, and it is designed to improve medication safety. A medication error is a deviation from the medication process. The medication safety of cancer patients is especially important. Chemotherapeutic agents usually have a narrow therapeutic index and they have toxic side effects even in therapeutic doses. Accordingly, chemotherapeutic agents are classified as high alert medications. This means that they have an increased risk for patient harm if used improperly. Cancer patients are often elderly people and they have comorbid diseases. As a result, they are more susceptible to adverse drug effects. Moreover, the use of anticancer drugs varies between patients and the different indications of a drug, and supportive therapies are often needed. Thus, cancer pharmacotherapy is complicated. In this registry study, safety in the medication process of cancer treatment was studied using voluntary patient safety incident reports in one university hospital district in Finland. The aim of this study was to describe medication errors in cancer treatment, and safety barriers in the medication use process. The reported medication safety incidents were analysed by combining quantitative and qualitative methods. Altogether 176 incident reports were analysed relating to the use of anticancer drugs and supportive therapies. The most common medication errors were administration (27 %), prescribing (11 %), and ordering errors (10 %). These medication errors were typically omission errors. There were safety barriers in the medication process, such as double-checking of medicines, but they were not always fully effective. Some barriers were missing, for example, computer programs lacked important safety features. Safety barriers are needed, and should be further developed especially in the prescribing, ordering and administration phases of the process. More effective barriers would increase patient and medication safety in cancer treatment. The classification of medication errors in patient safety incidents was not always correct. Therefore, reporting and analysing of reports should be improved. The results of this study can be utilised for improving medication safety in all organisations giving cancer pharmacotherapy.
  • Englund, Nia (2023)
    Tausta: Lääkehoitoon liittyvät haittatapahtumat aiheuttavat merkittävää inhimillistä kärsimystä ja taloudellista taakkaa yhteiskunnalle. Lääkitykseen liittyviä haittatapahtumia voidaan ehkäistä tunnistamalla ja puuttumalla lääkitysriskejä aiheuttaviin tekijöihin. Tavoitteet: Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli tutkia lääkitysriskien hallintakeinoja lääkkeen toimittamisen yhteydessä suomalaisissa avohuollon apteekeissa. Tavoitteena oli selvittää, miten apteekeissa tunnistetaan ja puututaan asiakkaan lääkehoitoon liittyviin ongelmiin ja millaista lääkitysriskien hallintaan liittyvää osaamista ja lisäkoulutustarvetta apteekeissa työskentelevillä farmaseuteilla ja proviisoreilla on. Aineisto ja menetelmät: Tutkimus oli valtakunnallinen poikkileikkaustutkimus, jonka aineisto kerättiin syksyllä 2022 sähköisellä kyselyllä. Alkuperäinen kyselylomake luotiin vuonna 2015 kirjallisuuden ja järjestelmälähtöisen riskien hallinnan teorian pohjalta ja päivitettiin tätä tutkimusta varten. Tulokset: Kyselyyn vastasi 192 apteekkia (n=610). Apteekeissa tunnistettiin ja puututtiin lääkehoito-ongelmiin, mutta toimintatavat olivat harvoin systemaattisia. Yleisin puuttumistapa oli keskustelu asiakkaan kanssa ja kehotus ottaa yhteyttä lääkäriin, näin toimi 78 % apteekeista tilanteessa, joissa asiakkaan lääkitys ei toiminut toivotulla tavalla. Suurimmalla osalla apteekeista ei ollut muun terveydenhuollon kanssa yhteisesti sovittuja toimintatapoja lääkehoito-ongelmien ratkaisemiseksi. Myös apteekin sisäiset toimintaohjeet olivat puutteellisia Johtopäätökset: Apteekkien ja muun terveydenhuollon välinen nopea viestintäkanava ja yhteisesti sovitut toimintatavat voisivat parantaa apteekkien mahdollisuuksia puuttua lääkehoito-ongelmiin. Apteekkien rooli lääkitysriskien hallinnassa tulee määritellä tarkemmin. Apteekkien ja muun terveydenhuollon välisessä yhteistyössä on paljon hyödyntämätöntä potentiaalia.
  • Toivonen, Salla (2023)
    The lack of up-to-date medication information in healthcare electronic information systems, the transfer of medication information with the patient, and the overall management of medication are key challenges in health care. The number of cancer patients in Finland will increase in the future due to the aging of the population, early detection of cancer, improvement in cancer prognosis and the development of cancer treatments. The development creates a need for operating models that improve medication safety. Medication safety of cancer patients can be improved with clinical pharmacy services, such as medication reconciliation and medication review. The aim of this study was to investigate the accuracy of the medication charts and identify the drug related problems and risks related to home medications among patients with newly diagnosed cancer in the Oncologic Outpatient Clinic of Turku University Central Hospital. This was a retrospective register-based study carried out as an operational development project to obtain information about the current operational model of pharmacist-led medication reconciliation and to further develop it. The theoretical starting point for the study was the theory of human error, according to which factors endangering patient safety can be prevented by using system-based safety defences. In the study, almost every (93 %, 69/74) patient's medication information differed from the hospital's information. A total of 392 discrepancies related to medication information and an average of 5,3 discrepancies per patient were observed in the data (range 0-15 discrepancies). High alert medications accounted for 14 % (n=53/392) of all discrepancies. It took an average of 19 minutes per patient to confirm a medication reconciliation (range 5-48 minutes). During medication reconciliation the pharmacist recorded observations for the doctor in 15 (20 %, n=15/74) patients. In the retrospectively performed medication review, a total of 183 possible drug related problems or risks related to patients’ home medications were observed in 31 (84 %, n=31/37) patients. Pharmacist-led medication reconciliation proved to be a fast and effective way to find out the patient's overall medication. In the future, the operating model should be developed to detect drug related problems, and risks related to patients’ home medications. In situations of limited resources, the clinical pharmacy services should be targeted to patients with the highest risk to drug related problems.
  • Kähkönen, Asta (2017)
    According to international studies, medication records are often incomplete in hospitals' patient information system. Medication reconciliation is an effective method to prevent medication errors and improve medication safety. A medication review is a useful tool in the assessment of drug-related problems (DRPs). DRPs can cause severe patient harm and even cause death. Approximately one third of Finnish people are diagnosed with cancer during their lifetime. About 16 000 patients receive cancer treatments in the Helsinki University Central Hospital Cancer Centre (HUCHCC). There are no clinical pharmacy services in the division of the solid tumors of HUCHCC. Internationally clinical pharmacy services in oncology are patient oriented and often include medication reconciliations and reviews. The clinical pharmacy services have increased patient safety also in the oncological specialty. The aim of this study was to find out the accuracy of the medication charts and identify the DRPs among 70-80-year-old patients with 6 or more medicines in uro-oncological outpatient clinic of HUCHCC. Accuracy of the medication charts was assessed by pharmacist-led medication reconciliation with patient interview. Information concerning patient's medication was also searched from the national electronical prescription centre and from the records of previous hospital visits. DRPs, such as drug-drug interactions, adverse drug reactions and overlapping medications, were identified with the pharmacist-led medication review. Special attention was paid to renal insuffiency, high-alert medications and potentially inappropriate medication for patients over 75 years old. Pharmacist discussed the DRPs with the oncology specialist. The theoretical framework of this study was the theory of human error, where patient safety hazards can be prevented by using safety defences such as medication reconciliation and medication review. Altogether 30 patients with urological cancer were included in this study. On average, they were 74.3 years old and used 12.4 medications. On average, there were 6.8 discrepancies per patient in the hospital medication chart. Only one patient had the accurate medication chart. The discrepancies were most commonly related to paracetamol (n = 10), vitamin-D (n = 9) and the combination of calcium and vitamin-D (n = 8). The most common discrepancies of high-alert medications were related to enoxaparin (n=6) and oxycodone (n=6). Of the potentially inappropriate medications for over 75 years old, the most common discrepancies were related magnesium (n=8) and metoclopramide (n=5). In the medication review process, 4 acute and 44 non-acute DRPs were identified with 22 patients (2,2 per patient). 60 % of these were regarded clinically relevant and lead to actions by the oncology specialist. Reconsidering the need or efficacy of the medication was recommended 19 times and inappropriate dose or medication with renal insufficiency were identified six times in medication reviews. DRPs were usually related to non-oncological medications such as pantoprazol (n=8), the combination of calcium and vitamin-D (n=4) ja bisoprolol (n=3). The medication reconciliation process should be developed in the urology-oncology outpatient clinic. Multiprofessional medication review can be used to detect and resolve DRPs of patients with urological cancer. The results of this study can be exploited when clinical pharmacy services will be created and developed in HUCHCC.
  • Kuitunen, Sini (2014)
    The role of community pharmacy is to ensure and promote medication safety in treatment of outpatients. In Finland a national four-year medication safety program Apila was launched in 2012. The Apila program aims to improve medication safety with pharmaceutical counselling and followup, support development and implementation of new tools and practices promoting medication safety, increase awareness of medication safety as part of patient safety and increase co-operation between community pharmacies and other social- and healthcare services. The objective of this study was to investigate medication safety situation of Finnish pharmacies in the beginning of Apila program. Research data was collected electronically at the end of 2012 by using a two structured survey instruments. Target of the study was the whole pharmaceutical staff of Finnish community pharmacies. There were two separated study samples. Survey instruments were alike for both samples with the exception of one section. One survey was sent to all independent pharmacy owners (n=593) and managers of university pharmacies (n=18). The other survey was sent to one member of pharmaceutical staff in every community pharmacy (n=618) and university pharmacies (n=17). The response-rate of pharmacy owners (O) was 39 % (n=241) and response-rate of pharmaceutical staff (S) was 29 % (n=182). Representativeness of data was good compared to standard population. According to study the barriers built into the dispensing process worked well. Verifying dose (O: 100 %, S: 98 %), interactions (O: 97 %, S: 94 %) and duplicated medications (O: 79 %, S: 70 %) was a common part of dispensing process. Over half of pharmacies had a written standard operating procedure to medication counselling given when dispensing prescribed (O: 74 %, S: 60 %) and over the counter medicines (O: 60 %, S: 60 %). About 90 % of the pharmacies had a standard operating procedure to reporting and managing dispensing errors (O: 92 %, S: 84 %). According to almost all respondents (O: 96 %, S: 91 %) medication errors were reported in their workplace. Though discussing dispensing errors with whole staff (O: 73 %, S: 53 %) and changing course of action after managing dispensing errors (O: 85 %, S: 63 %) was not as common. The respondents were of the opinion that pharmacy had closer co-operation with home care and social services than with health care services. Some pharmacies had agreed with local healthcare how to manage interactions (O: 39 %, S: 23 %), contraindications (O: 36 %, S: 19 %) and prescribing errors (O: 28 %, S: 15 %) discovered in pharmacy. The study indicates that Finnish community pharmacies have good abilities to identify medication related problems. Co-operation between community pharmacies and other social- and health care services should be promoted, because it seems to be superficial. The biggest challenges in risk management are complete invocation of data collected through error reporting and including medication safety audits into quality management. Pharmacy owners' answers to the questionnaire were more positive than staff members', which indicates that actions to promote medication safety should be made more visible. Coordination of medication safety should be emphasized both national and individual pharmacy level. Low response-rates weaken the reliability of the study, but the results are suggestive.