Adverse drug events (ADEs) are unintended and harmful events resulting from medications. They are an enormous burden to patients, families and the health system, causing 276,000 emergency department visits, and 100,000 admissions in BC each year. Unfortunately, healthcare providers commonly re-expose patients to the same medications as ones that previously caused harm resulting in repeat ADEs. This happens because there are no effective health information technologies to ensure that ADEs are documented and shared between providers in a patient’s circle of care. We have designed a software application called ActionADE that allows frontline care providers to document ADEs, and communicate this information between one another and across health sectors (for example, from hospitals to community pharmacies). We have partnered with the Ministry of Health, Vancouver Coastal Health, Lower Mainland Pharmacy Services and the College of Pharmacists of BC to integrate ActionADE with PharmaNet, BC’s drug information system, and with community pharmacy information systems. This will allow care providers to share information with one another about ADEs to prevent their recurrence. After completing ActionADE’s integration with other health information systems, we will implement ActionADE in acute care hospitals in Vancouver Costal Health. We will then evaluate whether ActionADE can prevent re-exposures to harmful medications, and improve patient and health system outcomes in a randomized trial. We will complete an economic evaluation to assess ActionADE’s cost effectiveness. ActionADE has the potential to advance the quadruple aims of enhancing patient care, improving population health, improving health system sustainability, and improving the work of care providers. If beneficial, we plan to scale ActionADE to other health sectors in BC, including to other hospitals, long-term care, physician offices, and to rural and remote locations to transform medication safety for all.
Implementing ActionADE to transform medication safety
