Rx safety effort enlists patients; collaboration shows promise

Drug Store News, Jan 14, 2008

MILWAUKEE -- Efforts to reach seniors in this city through a new and unusual medication-safety initiative appear to be paying off.

The pilot program, launched as a collaborative effort by Aurora Health Care, has yielded measurable improvements in the quality of patient prescription information available to physicians and pharmacists. Known as the Walworth County Patient Safety Council, the project also appears to be cementing closer ties between the small but growing group of older patients participating in the outreach effort and their healthcare providers.

As a result, the initiative has earned national recognition for Aurora, a not-for-profit healthcare and pharmacy provider with care sites in more than 90 communities throughout eastern Wisconsin.

Two patient-safety advocacy groups, the Institute for Safe Medication Practices and Consumers Advancing Patient Safety, have recognized Aurora for its efforts. The ISMP, in particular, selected Aurora's Patient Safety Council for a Cheers Award in honor of the initiative, aimed at improving medication safety in the medical clinic.

Aurora is calling its Patient Safety Council "a new approach to the issue of medication safety," through which patients and a safety expert from Midwest Airlines joined with Aurora physicians and pharmacists to improve medication safety for local seniors. Also working with Aurora on the effort was CAPS.

The project--which initially involved 11 patients and 12 healthcare providers--was supported with a grant from the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

"A key element of our commitment to enhance safety is the involvement of the community, which has helped us to approach our initiatives from the patient's perspective," said Kathryn Leonhardt, Aurora's patient safety officer and medical director of care management. "Patients partnered with us to help design and disseminate tools and educate the community to work collaboratively with their physician to ensure the medical record accurately reflected the medications a patient is taking."

The efforts included distribution of medication bags and lists to seniors in the county, as well as ongoing presentations on improving communications between patients and their physician and care team.

The result, according to Aurora, was a marked improvement in the accuracy of medication lists in the doctor's office, from 69 percent to 81 percent.

The initial focus was on the five Aurora Clinics in Walworth County. The effort later was extended to community groups, Aurora reported. The clinic and pharmacy provider said it will expand the process throughout its clinics and share it with other providers across the country.