Identifying Medication-Related Adverse Drug Events in Nursing Facilities in East Texas.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to identify the rate of adverse drug events (ADEs) and the percentage that cause harm in east Texas nursing facilities. In 2014, there were 1.4 million nursing facility residents in the United States, and approximately half take nine or more prescribed medications daily. Twenty percent of medication doses administered results in an error, putting almost half of all nursing home residents at risk for two or more medication errors daily. Close to two million medication error-related ADEs are estimated to occur in nursing facilities each year. Many ADEs lead to emergency department visits and hospitalization.

Design: A two-month retrospective medical chart review was completed in two medium-sized for-profit nursing facilities in rural east Texas on residents who consented or whose proxy consented to the study. The Nursing Home Adverse Drug Event trigger tool was used for chart reviews. This tool primary uses laboratory values and resident assessments to identify medication-related ADEs.

Results/conclusion: A total of 58 charts were reviewed. There were from 2 to 13 ADEs identified per month at the nursing facilities during the study. This was extrapolated to 7.41 to 27.59 ADEs per 100 resident months. While no permanent harm or hospitalizations resulted from the identified ADEs, these findings in such a small sample size contribute to an elevated level of concern about ADE occurrence and prohibit generalizability of results. Further research is needed on a larger sample, as well as types of medication errors occurring, leading to strategies for preventing ADEs.