Leveraging Real-Time Clinical Decision Support with Mobile Devices to Impact Medication Safety

The hospital identified two process improvement opportunities related to medication safety efforts: heparin protocols and capturing correct patient weights. The average time to intervention following automated triggers from the clinical surveillance software was 14 hours in July 2014. In the same month, four Category C and above medication errors reached the patient with no reported good catch medication errors for Categories A and B.

This program was designed to improve medication safety by reducing the time to intervention through an active alerting mechanism from the surveillance software to mobile devices. Through a multidisciplinary collaborative effort, five mobile devices were deployed in the decentralized pharmacy work model as the delivery channel for real-time surveillance alerts. Implementation of this program reduced the average time to intervention by 82.1 percent, from 14 hours in July 2014 to 2.5 hours in April 2015. The number of good catch medication errors also increased from zero reports in July 2014 to 19 reports in April 2015.

This case study is part of the Illinois Health and Hospital Association's annual Quality Excellence Achievement Awards. Each year, IHA recognizes and celebrates the achievements of Illinois hospitals and health systems in continually improving and transforming health care in the state. These organizations are improving health by striving to achieve the Triple Aim—improving the patient experience of care (including quality and satisfaction), improving the health of populations, and reducing the per capita cost of health care—and the Institute of Medicine's six aims for improvement—safe, effective, patient centered, timely, efficient, and equitable. To learn more, visit https://www.ihaqualityawards.org/javascript-ui/IHAQualityAward/