PGY1/PGY2 Pharmacy Informatics Residency

Patient Safety And Financial Outcomes Of Smart Pump – Electronic Health Record Interoperability

Wenfei Wei, PharmD; William Coffey, BSPharm, DDS; Mobolaji Adeola, PharmD, BCPS; Ghalib Abbasi, PharmD, MS, MBA

PURPOSE

Integrating a hospital’s smart pump with its electronic health record (EHR) is predicted to improve patient safety and finances by reducing pump programming errors and enhancing nursing workflow efficiency. The purpose of this study is to describe the impact of pump – EHR interoperability on safety and financial parameters at a community hospital.

METHODS Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital (HMSL) went live with pump – EHR interoperability in October 2019. Data was collected from the smart pump’s reporting tool during the pre-implementation period, April 1, 2019 to June 30, 2019 and post-implementation period, April 1, 2020 to June 30, 2020. Primary endpoint was drug library compliance, defined as infusions programmed with dose-error reduction software (DERS) out of all infusions. Secondary safety endpoints were overridden alerts, overridden alerts within 2 seconds, high risk overridden alerts, and reprogrammed alerts. Secondary financial endpoint was nursing labor cost savings, calculated as estimated time saved per infusion (10 minutes) multiplied by number of post-implementation infusions and nursing pay rate.

RESULTS

Drug library compliance increased from 73.8% to 82.9% (P<0.001), overridden alerts increased from 64.8% to 68.9% (P<0.001), overridden alerts within 2 seconds decreased from 17.3% to 13.8% (P<0.001), high risk overridden alerts did not change significantly from 1.5% to 1.6% (P=0.654), and reprogrammed alerts decreased from 20.7% to 18.3% (P=0.002). Estimated value of nursing time savings was $376,329.

CONCLUSION

Increase in overridden alerts suggests inappropriate override or inappropriate drug library settings. Decrease in reprogrammed alerts suggests fewer pump programming errors. Improved nursing workflow efficiency through automation results in financial benefit.

PGY1 – PGY1/PGY2 PHARMACY INFORMATICS RESIDENCY

Wenfei Wei, PharmD

Wenfei Wei earned her BA in Biochemistry and Cell Biology from Rice University in 2013 and PharmD from Texas A&M University in 2020. Following completion of her PGY1, Wenfei will continue advance in her current Pharmacy Informatics Residency program as a PGY2, after which she will pursue a career as an informatics pharmacist. Primary project preceptor: William Coffey

Presented at 2020 Virtual Vizient Conference, 2021 Virtual Midwest Pharmacy Residents Conference.