Emotional Impact of Medication-Related Patient Safety Incidents on Canadian Hospital Pharmacists: A Mixed-Methods...

Patient safety incidents are the third leading cause of death in Canada. These occurrences have negative effects on patients and on the well-being of health care professionals. They also lead to financial burdens on the health care system. Several organizations focus on minimizing patient safety incidents; however, an area requiring additional research is evaluating the emotional impact of medication-related patient safety incidents (MRPSIs) on Canadian hospital pharmacists. An MRPSI is a preventable, unintended outcome resulting from medication management rather than an underlying disease. The consequences may be no harm, temporary harm, prolonged hospital stay, disability, or death.

To describe the psychological burden on pharmacists after occurrence of an MRPSI and to identify supportive strategies.

This mixed-methods study involved a voluntary survey of hospital pharmacists and structured individual interviews. Survey respondents scored their emotional distress on the Impact of Event Scale (IES), a validated self-reporting tool used to assess the impact of traumatic life events. Interviewees' responses were analyzed qualitatively.

Of the 128 pharmacists who had experienced an MRPSI and submitted a complete survey response, 105 (82%) had a score above 8 on the IES, indicating that the MRPSI had an important impact. Commonly reported factors contributing to MRPSIs were heavy workload, interruptions, and inexperience. The most desired support strategies included talking to a colleague, compassionate notification of the event through management, and involvement in team debriefs.

The emotional impact of MRPSIs as reported by Canadian hospital pharmacists is significant. Most participants felt that increased support is needed to overcome emotional burdens related to MRPSIs.