Year(s) Funded: 2015-2016
Topic(s): Health Services, Hospitals and Clinics, Pharmacy and Prescription Drugs
Project Lead: Ira Moscovice
Statement of the Problem: Adverse drug events (ADEs) are the single largest category of hospital‐acquired conditions (HACs), accounting for 34.2% of HACs in 2011. Medication safety in small rural hospitals is an important rural health policy issue.
Project Goals: To identify rates of adverse drug events (ADEs) and opportunities to improve patient safety in Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) and non‐CAH rural hospitals.
Methods: We will use State Inpatient Data (SID) for 2012 and 2013 from eight states to identify ADEs involving steroids, antibiotics, opiates and narcotics, and anticoagulants; these data will be linked to American Hospital Association (AHA) Annual Survey data to examine relationships between hospital characteristics and ADE rates. We will also review the literature and consult with experts in the field on strategies that have been successfully used to decrease ADEs related to these types of medications that could be implemented to improve patient safety in rural hospitals.