Identifying Adverse Drug Events and Improving Patient Safety in Rural Hospitals

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 and opportunities to improve patient safety in Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) and non‐CAH rural hospitals.

Methods: We will use State Inpatient Data 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 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.

Publications

• Current Practices and State Regulations Regarding Telepharmacy in Rural Hospitals
  Journal Article
  University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
  Date: 07/2010
  Telepharmacy practices in rural hospitals in several states were examined, and relevant policies and state laws and regulations were analyzed, along with issues to be addressed as the use of telepharmacy expands.
• Implementing Patient Safety Initiatives in Rural Hospitals
  Journal Article
  University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
  Date: 09/2009
  This article describes the Tennessee Rural Hospital Patient Safety Demonstration project, whose goal was to strengthen capacity for patient safety initiatives in eight small Tennessee rural hospitals using a multi-organizational collaborative model. The demonstration identified and facilitated implementation of three patient safety interventions.