Collaborative Medication Reviews to Identify Inappropriate Prescribing in Pre-Admission Medications at Emergency Department Short-Term Ward.

Purpose: Collaborative medication reviews (CMR) have been shown to reduce inappropriate prescribing (IP) in various settings. This study aimed at describing a CMR practice in an emergency department (ED) short-term ward in Finland to investigate IP in pre-admission medications.

Patients And Methods: Pre-admission medications were collaboratively reviewed for all the adult ED admissions within a 5-month study period in 2016.

Are Older People Aware of Potential Risks Related to Benzodiazepines They are Taking and Has Anything Changed in Risk Awareness Over Ten Years?

Purpose: The use of benzodiazepines and related drugs (BZD) is common among older adults although there is growing evidence of their harmful effects. This study investigated how well older people are aware of the potential risks related to the BZD they are taking and whether the risk awareness has changed in the years between 2004 and 2015.

Patients And Methods: The data were collected by interviewing BZD using home-dwelling patients aged ≥65 years with normal cognitive function (MMSE ≥20) who were admitted to the hospital within a 1 month study period in the years 2004 and 2015.

Auditing Safety of Compounding and Reconstituting of Intravenous Medicines on Hospital Wards in Finland.

On the hospital wards in Finland, nurses generally reconstitute intravenous medicines, such as antibiotics, analgesics, and antiemetics prescribed by doctors. Medicine reconstitution is prone to many errors. Therefore, it is important to identify incorrect practices in the reconstitution of medicine to improve patient safety in hospitals.

Incorrect aseptic techniques in medicine preparation and recommendations for safer practices: a systematic review.

Objective: Many patient deaths have been reported because of administration of contaminated intravenous medicines due to incorrect aseptic techniques. Our aim was to review the literature for (1) incorrect practices in aseptic drug preparation and administration and (2) recommendations for safer practices in hospitals.

Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted in PubMed covering 2007-2015.

Development and content validation of an assessment tool for medicine compounding on hospital wards.

Background Medicines should be compounded by using an aseptic technique to assure patient safety. The parenteral administration of microbiologically contaminated doses can result in bacteriaemia, other morbidity and even death. Objective The purpose was to develop and content validate an assessment tool for medicine compounding on hospital wards suitable for self-assessment and external audit to ensure the safety of medicine compounding on wards.

Adapting and remodelling the US Institute for Safe Medication Practices' Medication Safety Self-Assessment tool for hospitals to be used to support national medication safety initiatives in Finland.

Background: The US Institute for Safe Medication Practices' (ISMP) Medication Safety Self-Assessment (MSSA) tool for hospitals is a comprehensive tool for assessing safe medication practices in hospitals.

Aims: To adapt and remodel the ISMP MSSA tool for hospitals so that it can be used in individual wards in order to support long-term medication safety initiatives in Finland.

Methods: The MSSA tool was first adapted for Finnish hospital settings by a four-round (applicability, desirability and feasibility were evaluated) Delphi consensus method (14 panellists), and then remodelled by organizing the items into a new order which is consistent with the order of the ward-based pharmacotherapy plan recommended by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.