Adverse Drug Events

Medication safety is an important component of patient safety. Adverse events secondary to medication therapy are the most common type of healthcare associated adverse event. An adverse drug event (ADE) is defined as avoidable harm to a patient associated with medication use. Many ADEs are due to medication errors, which may occur at any point in the medication administration process. Some of the most frequent types of errors associated with ADEs include:

• Missed dose
• Wrong technique
• Illegible order
• Duplicate therapy
• Drug-drug interaction¹

The nationwide Patient Safety and Clinical Pharmacy (PSPC) 4.0 Collaborative, facilitated by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), helps integrate evidence-based clinical pharmacy services into the care and management of high-risk, high-cost, complex patients. Entering its fourth year, the PSPC Collaborative focuses on reducing ADEs for an identified group of high-risk, complex patients and improving clinical outcomes for these patients.

For more information about PSPC 4.0 Collaborative click here: I want to participate in PSPC 4.0!

Support from HealthInsight

HealthInsight is offering quality improvement assistance to community teams enrolled in the PSPC 4.0 Collaborative. Our assistance is free of charge, and is in addition to the resources offered through the PSPC. Through education, safer medication practices and better reporting systems, we have an opportunity to improve patient outcomes while reducing and preventing patient harm.

¹ADE Resource Guide_final_072511.pdf