Effect of Misalignment between Hospital and Provincial Formularies on Medication Discrepancies at Discharge: PPITS (Proton Pump Inhibitor Therapeutic Substitution) Study

Investigating physicians' views on non-formulary prescribing: a qualitative study using the theoretical domains framework

BACKGROUND

Well-designed and well-maintained drug formularies serve as a reliable resource to guide prescribing decisions; they are associated with improved medicine safety and increased efficiency, while also serving as a cost-effective tool to help manage and predict medicine expenditure. Multiple studies have investigated the inappropriate prescribing of non-formulary drugs (NFDs) with statistics indicating that up to 70% of NFD usage being inappropriate or not following the ascribed NFD policies.

AIM

To explore physicians' views and influences on their prescribing of non-formulary drugs.

METHOD

Data collection and analysis were underpinned using the Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF). Thirteen semi-structured interviews were conducted within Hamad Medical Corporation, the main provider of secondary and tertiary healthcare in Qatar, with physicians who had submitted a NFD request in the preceding 12 months.

RESULTS

Three overarching themes were identified: providing evidence-based care for individual patients; influences of others; and formulary management issues. Subthemes were mapped to specific TDF domains: environmental context and resources; social influences; professional role and identity; beliefs about consequences; goals; intentions.

CONCLUSION

The behavioral influences identified in this study can be mapped to behavior change strategies facilitating the development of an intervention to promote appropriate prescribing of NFDs with implications for medicine safety and healthcare efficiency.

Evaluation of In-Hospital Management of Inhaler Therapy for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

BACKGROUND

In the past decade, the number of inhaled devices approved for management of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has tripled. Management of at-home inhaled COPD therapy can present a problem when patients are admitted to hospital, because only a limited number of these therapies are currently included in hospital formularies and there is a lack of established interchanges.

OBJECTIVES

To characterize and evaluate the appropriateness of management of patients' before-admission inhaled therapy upon hospital admission.

METHODS

This retrospective chart review involved patients with COPD admitted to a tertiary care centre over a 1-year period (October 2017 to September 2018). Before-admission inhaled therapy was compared with inhalers ordered in hospital and at discharge. Inhaler device type, regimen, therapeutic class, and disease severity were used to assess the appropriateness of inpatient management.

RESULTS

The charts of 200 patients were reviewed. Of these patients, 124 (62%) were kept on the same inhaler, 43 (22%) had one or more of their inhalers discontinued, 35 (18%) had to provide their own medication, and 24 (12%) had their medication changed to a formulary equivalent. An average delay of 2.6 (standard deviation 3.2) days occurred when patients provided their own medication. Formulary substitution resulted in most patients receiving a medication from the same class (75% [18/24]); however, other aspects of therapy, such as device type (17% [4/24]), regimen (29% [7/24]) and drug combination (47% [9/19]), were not maintained. Only 55% (6/11) received an equivalent dose of inhaled corticosteroids when the medication was interchanged to a formulary inhaler.

CONCLUSIONS

The majority of patients' inhaled therapies continued unchanged upon admission to hospital, which suggests that despite the proliferation of new inhalers on the market, their use is still limited. For patients who did require interchange to formulary inhalers, maintenance of the same regimen, device, and combination product was rare. Provision of the medication supply by patients themselves often resulted in a delay in therapy.

Impact of Inpatient Automatic Therapeutic Substitutions on Postdischarge Medication Prescribing

Background: Automatic therapeutic substitution (ATS) is the act of therapeutic interchange, in which patients are transitioned from a nonformulary preadmission medication to an equivalent formulary medication upon admission. ATS protocols are able to provide several benefits; however, if medications are unreconciled at the time of discharge, then use may lead to duplication or omission resulting in adverse outcomes. The objective was to assess the impact of preidentified ATS protocol use during admission on duplication and omission postdischarge. Methods: This study included adults who received a preidentified ATS upon admission. The primary outcome was the incidence of duplication or omission at the time of discharge. The secondary outcome was the incidence of duplication or omission at the time of discharge in moderate-to-high readmission risk patients with completed transitions of care (TOC) services compared with incomplete TOC services. Results: A total of 689 encounters were assessed for appropriate reconciliation, duplication, or omission at time of discharge. The incidence of duplication or omission at the time of discharge was 9% (n = 62). Of the 689 encounters, 287 were assessed for the secondary outcome. The rate of duplication or omission at the time of discharge was 10% (n = 19) in the complete TOC services group and 8% (n = 8) in the incomplete TOC services group (P = .6763). Conclusion: This study identified a high rate of appropriate reconciliation of ATS protocols at the time of discharge, which illustrates ATS protocols are a safe medication use management strategy if implemented as intended.

Evaluation of discharge medication orders following automatic therapeutic substitution of commonly exchanged drug classes

OBJECTIVE

Automatic therapeutic substitution (ATS) is a mechanism that, upon patient hospitalization, prompts the pharmacist to exchange an equivalent formulary drug for a nonformulary medication, typically without prescriber contact. In facilities utilizing ATS, there is the possibility that physicians and patients may be unaware of the substitution, potentially leading to drug-drug interactions, therapeutic duplication, and/or increased patient expense following discharge should the original regimen not be resumed. The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency with which hospitalized patients subjected to an ATS protocol were not returned to outpatient drug therapy.

METHODS

A retrospective chart review of adult patients admitted to an academic medical center between January 1 and June 30, 2011, was conducted. Patients were included if they were admitted on angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, antidepressants, nonsedating antihistamines, histamine (H2) receptor antagonists, or proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), and were then prescribed a different agent via ATS. Admission and discharge medication reconciliation documents, dictated discharge summaries, and patient education documentation reports were reviewed for drug therapies and doses, as well as medication counseling evidence. The primary endpoint was the percentage of patients not returned to original outpatient therapy following ATS. Secondary endpoints included prescribing events in patients not returned to original therapy, the rate and source of drug therapy counseling at discharge, and the number of patients discharged on a potentially cost-prohibitive drug, defined as any drug available only as a branded product during the study period.

RESULTS

A total of 317 interventions were identified through review of pharmacy records. Of these, 47 patients (15%) were not returned to original outpatient therapy. Within this subsection, 15 patients (32%) were discharged on the substituted drug, eight patients (17%) resumed initial therapy but received a dosage adjustment from previous outpatient therapy, and three patients (6%) were discharged on a drug that was neither the substituted product nor the previous outpatient therapy. The remaining 21 patients had therapy discontinued (n = 12/47, 26%) or lacked documentation of discharge therapy (9/47, 19%). Nursing staff provided medication counseling to 288 of the 317 patients (91%). Overall, 51 patients (16%) were identified as receiving a cost-prohibitive drug.

CONCLUSION

Patients subject to ATS of commonly substituted drug classes were returned to their original outpatient drug therapy more than 85% of the time following inpatient hospitalizations, with similar rates of medication counseling at discharge. The prescribing of cost-prohibitive drugs has been identified as a potential area for pharmacist intervention at discharge.