Extrait

Background and study aims Prescribing errors occur in about half of hospital admissions. To reduce this, the government has recommended that all patients should receive a review from a pharmacist within 24 hours of admission to hospital. The medicines that the patient was taking before they came into hospital should be checked and compared against any hospital charts or other documentation. Currently hospitals in East of England achieve this only for 50% of patients. Expanding the pharmacy service to all patients would require a full seven-day service which is likely to be costly and may not be the best use of NHS resources. This study is designed to estimate the costs and effects of expanding the current pharmacy service in one teaching hospital. Who can participate? Adults, aged at least 18, admitted to one of the five adult medical wards with prescribed medicines. What does the study involve? Participants will be allocated to one of two groups. One group will receive usual care and the other group will be seen by a Pharmacist for a review of their medicines within 24 hours of their emergency admission. All participants will complete a short questionnaire. 3 months after discharge from hospital, the Research Assistant will write to the participants with a second questionnaire, as well as questions regarding their use of health or social services since their discharge. The length of stay in hospital, use of NHS resources, the level of medication errors and health-related quality of life will be compared between the two groups. Some participants will be randomly chosen to be invited to a discussion group regarding their experience of being in the study. Medical and Pharmacy staff who have had contact with the study will also be asked to join a discussion group regarding their experience of the study. What are the possible benefits and risks of participating? Participants may receive no direct benefit, but that their participation in this study may help to inform Pharmacists where best to concentrate their resources. Participants will need to complete some forms and that they will need to speak to a Researcher for 5-10 minutes. They may need to speak to a Pharmacist and the time taken can’t really be estimated. The risk regarding personal data is minimised, according to data protection laws, and this is fully explained to potential recruits. Where is the study run from? The study will be run from the Pharmacy department at Cambridge University Hospital. Participants will be recruited from one of five medical wards When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for? The study started in July 2012 and will run until April 2013. Who is funding the study? NIHR Research for Patient Benefit Programme (UK). Who is the main contact? Miss Amanda Bale [email protected]

Critère d'inclusion

• Health Services Research

Liens

• isrctn
• ictrp