Verifying Medication Orders in the Older Population: Are We Using Enough Caution?

Area of Science:

• Pharmacy Practice
• Medication Safety
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Hospital pharmacists' practices in processing pediatric versus geriatric medication orders are not well-characterized.
• Existing hypotheses suggest differential resource utilization and caution levels based on patient age group.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether hospital pharmacists apply greater caution and utilize more drug information resources for pediatric medication orders compared to geriatric medication orders.
• To assess the perceived importance of medication error prevention guidelines for different age groups.

Main Methods:

• A 26-item electronic survey was distributed to staff pharmacists at academic medical centers.
• The survey was administered via academic medical center pharmacy directors and re-sent twice at two-week intervals.
• Key outcome measures included caution levels, frequency of drug information resource use, and importance of error prevention guidelines.

Main Results:

• A majority of pharmacists (72.7%) reported exercising more caution with pediatric medication orders than geriatric ones.
• Pharmacists were 4.2 times more likely to consult drug information resources for pediatric orders (69.0%) than for geriatric orders (34.3%).
• Pharmacists familiar with medication error prevention guidelines found pediatric guidelines more important (29.8%) than geriatric guidelines (15.7%).

Conclusions:

• Evidence suggests attitudinal differences in pharmacists' work practices when handling pediatric versus geriatric medication orders.
• The findings indicate a need for consistent application of caution, drug information resource utilization, and adherence to guidelines for both pediatric and geriatric patient populations.
• Implementing uniform safety standards is crucial for providing safe and comprehensive care to all age groups.