NCT02614638

Evaluation of the Impact of the Presence of a Pharmacy Technician on the Quality and Cost of Drug Therapy

Evaluation of the Impact of the Presence of a Pharmacy Technician on the Quality and Cost of Drug Therapy in the Hepato-Gastroenterology Department of the Nîmes University Hospital

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 129 (actual)
• Sponsor: Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nīmes · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The main objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of the presence of a pharmacy technician in a care unit (Hepato-Gastroenterology Department) on detected medication errors. This is a before-after study consisting of three sequential phases: Month 1: one month of observation of what is happening in the department Month 2: one month wash out period Month 3: active participation of a pharmacy technician in the department

Detailed description

The secondary objectives of this study are: A- To assess the impact of the presence of a pharmacy technician on the ratio of the number of patients with at least one medication error / number of included patients hospitalized in the service. B- To characterize detected medication errors. C- To identify and evaluate the potential causes of medication errors. D- To evaluate whether the presence of a pharmacy technician reduces nursing time spent on medication management. E- To evaluate the economic impact of the presence of a pharmacy technician. F- To evaluate the acceptability of the intervention by the nursing staff and pharmacy technicians using questionnaires.

Conditions

• Hospitalization

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	One month of department-wide observation	A pharmacy technician will be present full time in the care unit from Monday to Friday between 8:30 and 17h for 1 month for observational purposes only. During this phase, the pharmacy technician observes the current practices of preparation and administration of medication by nurses. He / she will collect medication errors and other observational data.
OTHER	Pharm Tech participates in department	Following a 1 month wash-out period, a pharmacy technician will again be present full time (in practice, two technicians will relay each other) in the care unit from Monday to Friday between 8:30 and 17h for 1 month. He/she will actively take part in drug care activities in the department: management of product pathways, verification of injectable preparation, advice, etc. Medication errors and other observational data will be collected.

Timeline

• Start date: 2016-09-01
• Primary completion: 2016-12-16
• Completion: 2016-12-16
• First posted: 2015-11-25
• Last updated: 2017-02-01

Locations

1 site across 1 country: France