Abstract: The use of medication is one of the most common interventions in today’s healthcare. Medication use takes place in many different settings and involves many different health care professionals as well as patients and their carers – and errors can arise at any stage. This presentation will set the scene by describing some of the problems that can occur, before considering some solutions and challenges, drawing on evidence in this field. Potential solutions include the use of technology (both high tech and low tech), human factors, system design, communication strategies and greater patient involvement. Suitable solutions must also take into account both a ‘medical’ view of safety (the avoidance of harm) and a ‘patient’ view of safety (‘feeling safe’). Challenges include the importance of context (what works in what setting may not work in another), fidelity of implementation, unintended consequences, and the ubiquitous nature of medication use and wide range of stakeholders involved.
Biography: Professor Bryony Dean Franklin is Director of the Centre for Medication Safety and Service Quality (CMSSQ), a joint research unit between Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and UCL School of Pharmacy, where Bryony is Professor of Medication Safety. She is a theme lead for both the NIHR Imperial Patient Safety Translational Research Centre and the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare Associated Infection and Antimicrobial Resistance at Imperial College London.
Bryony has been involved with patient safety research for nearly twenty years, and has published widely on medication safety, the evaluation of various technologies designed to reduce errors, and how we can support the public role in patient safety. Her current post combines research, education and training, and clinical practice as a hospital pharmacist. Bryony is an associate editor for the journal BMJ Quality and Safety, and on the editorial board for BMC Safety in Health. She is co-editor of the textbook “Safety in Medication Use” and co-author of “Going into Hospital? A guide for patients, carers and families”, a book aimed at the general public.