This project will assess the capacity of rural hospitals to implement medication safety practices that reduce the likelihood of serious adverse drug events, and identify factors that facilitate successful implementation of medication safety practices in rural hospitals. The project will focus on two key aspects of rural hospitals' capacity to implement medication safety initiatives: pharmacist staffing and the availability of technology.

This project is national in scope and will have relevance for policymaking at the federal, state and local levels. The project will include analysis of primary data from a phone survey of a national sample of rural hospitals and secondary data from the AHA Annual Survey and Area Resource File. The telephone survey will be developed based on a review of the literature on medication safety practices in hospitals and input from a rural hospital pharmacist advisory group. The survey will include questions regarding pharmacy staffing, the use of medication safety technology, and factors that have influenced successful implementation of medication safety practices in the hospital. A report on the project findings will be completed by the end of September 2005.

Publications

• Pharmacist Staffing and the Use of Technology in Small Rural Hospitals: Implications for Medication Safety (Brief)
  Policy Brief
  Upper Midwest Rural Health Research Center
  Date: 01/2006
  This study's results indicate that many small rural hospitals have limited hours of onsite pharmacist coverage and many either don't have a pharmacy computer or don't use it for clinical purposes. Implementation of protocols related to medication use and key medication safety practices are areas where small rural hospitals could improve.
• Pharmacist Staffing and the Use of Technology in Small Rural Hospitals: Implications for Medication Safety (Full Report)
  Upper Midwest Rural Health Research Center
  Date: 12/2005
  This study's results show that many small rural hospitals have limited hours of onsite pharmacist coverage and a significant number don't have a pharmacy computer or don't use one for clinical purposes. Implementation of protocols related to medication use and key medication safety practices are areas where small rural hospitals could improve.
• Pharmacist Staffing, Technology Use and Implementation of Medication Safety Practices in Rural Hospitals
  Journal Article
  Upper Midwest Rural Health Research Center
  Date: 2006
  Reports the capacity of small rural hospitals to implement medication safety practices, with a focus on pharmacist staffing and the availability of technology.