South Nassau Awarded State Funding for Innovative Patient Safety Program

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} South Nassau Communities Hospital has been awarded a grant of $66,523 from the New York State Department of Health in support of an initiative designed to improve patientsafety and prevent medication errors that occur after hospital discharge .   Fundingfor this project is from the New York State Attorney General’s settlement withCardinal Health, Inc. “The result of theprogram will be improved in-home medication management that will reducepost-discharge medication errors that contribute to the re-hospitalization rate,”said Maryann Demeo, assistant vicepresident for quality and resource management.   “ Ultimately, this will improve clinical outcomes and reducehealthcare costs.” Medication errorsare among the most common medical errors in healthcare, affecting at least 1.5million people every year, according to a report from the Institute of Medicine ,and generate costs of more than $100 billion annually in hospitalizations,emergent care and unscheduled physician visits. Inadequate patientmedication education is the most frequent cause of medication errors, and is arisk factor for unplanned 30-day hospital readmission.   Patients are especially susceptible tomedical errors in the days immediately following hospital discharge.   Forty-nine percent of hospitalized patientsexperience at least one medical error following discharge, most commonlyinvolving medication use.   An estimated19% to 23% of patients suffer an adverse drug event (ADE) after discharge. Research has shownthat successful medication education programs lead to a significant increase inpatient adherence, while decreasing hospital readmission. While South Nassau provides patients with medication educationduring their hospital stay, this initiative focuses on improving medicationadherence following discharge.   Its goalsare to: improve patients’ and caregivers’ knowledge and understanding of the safe use of prescribed medications through patient-centered education improve in-home medication monitoring and compliance through home care services for patients meeting specified criteria prevent adverse events and hospital re-admission due to problems arising from medication usage in the home Key components ofthe initiative include creating a library of culturally and linguistically appropriatepatient medication education materials, providing patient-centered medicationeducation for patients and their caregivers, and providing in-home medicationeducation and monitoring via home care services for patients identified as “inneed of additional support for safe medication use following hospitaldischarge.” Additionally, hospitalclinical staff will receive training regarding new protocols for patient medicationeducation , and selected supervisory and fieldstaff of South Nassau Home Care will receive training in geriatric medicationmanagement to improve clinical outcomes for older homecare patients.   Home Care will also pilot the use of remotemedication monitoring devices for high - risk homecarepatients. The initiative,which will be conducted over a 15-month period, was launched in May 2009.   The Department of Health’s aim in awardingthis funding was to stimulate improvements in medication safety that willbenefit patients.   It is expected that SouthNassau’s program will serve as a model to be replicated in other hospitals andhealthcare settings throughout New York State .

Was this helpful? 0 0 Comments

You're reading South Nassau Awarded State Funding for Innovative Patient Safety Program.