Are primary care factors associated with hospital episodes for adverse drug reactions? A national observational study

Hospitalizations and deaths related to adverse drug events worldwide: Systematic review of studies with national coverage

PURPOSE

Adverse drug events are related to negative outcomes in healthcare, including hospitalization, increased duration of hospital stay and death. The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review to evaluate hospitalizations and deaths related to adverse drug events worldwide, reported in studies with national coverage.

METHODS

The protocol was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42020157008). We performed a systematic search on Medline, Embase, CINAHL, LILACS, and the Cochrane Library (until March 2020) using pre-specified terms. We included published studies that reported data on hospitalizations and/or deaths related to adverse drug events from a national perspective and the use of secondary data as a source of information. Two reviewers independently extracted and synthesized data. The quality of the studies was assessed using an adapted version of the Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal checklist for prevalence studies. Narrative summaries of findings were undertaken.

RESULTS

Among 59,336 citations, 62 studies were included for data extraction and synthesis. Among these studies, 41 studies included the outcome of hospitalization, 16 included the death outcome, and five included both outcomes. Administrative databases regarding discharges and registries of vital statistics were the most common sources of information. The relative frequency of hospitalizations ranged from 0.03% to 7.3%, and from 9.7 to 383.0/100,000 population, whereas mortality rate ranged from 0.1 to 7.88/100,000 population.

CONCLUSION

Our study highlights information about adverse drug events using large administrative databases in a national scenario and provides an overview of databases and methods implemented to detect adverse drug events.

Barriers and facilitators to deprescribing in primary care: a systematic review

Background

Managing polypharmacy is a challenge for healthcare systems globally. It is also a health inequality concern as it can expose some of the most vulnerable in society to unnecessary medications and adverse drug-related events. Care for most patients with multimorbidity and polypharmacy occurs in primary care. Safe deprescribing interventions can reduce exposure to inappropriate polypharmacy. However, these are not fully accepted or routinely implemented.

Aim

To identify barriers and facilitators to safe deprescribing interventions for adults with multimorbidity and polypharmacy in primary care.

Design & setting

A systematic review of studies published from 2000, examining safe deprescribing interventions for adults with multimorbidity and polypharmacy.

Method

A search of electronic databases: MEDLINE, Embase, Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINHAL), Cochrane, and Health Management Information Consortium (HMIC) from inception to 26 Feb 2019, using an agreed search strategy. This was supplemented by handsearching of relevant journals, and screening of reference lists and citations of included studies.

Results

In total, 40 studies from 14 countries were identified. Cultural and organisational barriers included: a culture of diagnosing and prescribing; evidence-based guidance focused on single diseases; a lack of evidence-based guidance for the care of older people with multimorbidities; and a lack of shared communication, decision-making systems, tools, and resources. Interpersonal and individual-level barriers included: professional etiquette; fragmented care; prescribers’ and patients’ uncertainties; and gaps in tailored support. Facilitators included: prudent prescribing; greater availability and acceptability of non-pharmacological alternatives; resources; improved communication, collaboration, knowledge, and understanding; patient-centred care; and shared decision-making.

Conclusion

A whole systems, patient-centred approach to safe deprescribing interventions is required, involving key decision-makers, healthcare professionals, patients, and carers.

Patient experience of general practice and use of emergency hospital services in England: regression analysis of national cross-sectional time series data

BACKGROUND

The UK Government has introduced several national policies to improve access to primary care. We examined associations between patient experience of general practice and rates of visits to accident and emergency (A&E) departments and emergency hospital admissions in England.

METHODS

The study included 8124 general practices between 2011-2012 and 2013-2014. Outcome measures were annual rates of A&E visits and emergency admissions by general practice population, according to administrative hospital records. Explanatory variables included three patient experience measures from the General Practice Patient Survey: practice-level means of experience of making an appointment, satisfaction with opening hours and overall experience (on 0-100 scales). The main analysis used random-effects Poisson regression for cross-sectional time series. Five sensitivity analyses examined changes in model specification.

RESULTS

Mean practice-level rates of A&E visits and emergency admissions increased from 2011-2012 to 2013-2014 (310.3-324.4 and 98.8-102.9 per 1000 patients). Each patient experience measure decreased; for example, mean satisfaction with opening hours was 79.4 in 2011-2012 and 76.6 in 2013-2014. In the adjusted regression analysis, an SD increase in experience of making appointments (equal to 9 points) predicted decreases of 1.8% (95% CI -2.4% to -1.2%) in A&E visit rates and 1.4% (95% CI -1.9% to -0.9%) in admission rates. This equalled 301 174 fewer A&E visits and 74 610 fewer admissions nationally per year. Satisfaction with opening hours and overall experience were not consistently associated with either outcome measure across the main and sensitivity analyses.

CONCLUSIONS

Associations between patient experience of general practice and use of emergency hospital services were small or inconsistent. In England, realistic short-term improvements in patient experience of general practice may only have modest effects on A&E visits and emergency admissions.

Cross-sectional study exploring barriers to adverse drug reactions reporting in community pharmacy settings in Dhaka, Bangladesh

OBJECTIVES

To assess community pharmacists'/pharmacy technicians' knowledge and perceptions about adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and barriers towards the reporting of such reactions in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

METHOD

A cross-sectional study was planned to approach potential respondents for the study. A self-administered questionnaire was delivered to community pharmacists/pharmacy technicians (N=292) practising in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

RESULTS

The overall response to the survey was 69.5% (n=203). The majority of the sample was comprised of pharmacy technicians (152, 74.9%) who possessed a diploma in pharmacy, followed by pharmacists (37, 18.2%) and others (12, 5.9%). Overall, 72 (35.5%) of the respondents disclosed that they had experienced an ADR at their pharmacy, yet more than half (105, 51.7%) were not familiar with the existence of an ADR reporting body in Bangladesh. Exploring the barriers to the reporting of ADRs, it was revealed that the top four barriers to ADR reporting were 'I do not know how to report (Relative Importance Index (RII)=0.998)', 'reporting forms are not available (0.996)', 'I am not motivated to report (0.997)' and 'Unavailability of professional environment to discuss about ADR (RII=0.939)'. In addition to these, a majority (141, 69.46%) were not confident about the classification of ADRs (RII=0.889) and were afraid of legal liabilities associated with reporting ADRs (RII=0.806). Moreover, a lack of knowledge about pharmacotherapy and the detection of ADRs was another major factor hindering their reporting (RII=0.731).

CONCLUSIONS

The Directorate of Drug Administration in Bangladesh needs to consider the results of this study to help it improve and simplify ADR reporting in Bangladeshi community pharmacy settings.