Emory Johns Creek Wins Patient Safety Award

Sign up for the Johns Creek Patch newsletter!

---

Johns Creek, GA -- Emory Johns Creek Hospital recently earned a second place award across the state for its work in medication reconciliation to prevent adverse drug events from occurring.

Emory Johns Creek Hospital accepted the Georgia Hospital Association (GHA) award at the Georgia Partnership for Health and Accountability Quality and Patient Safety Awards on Jan. 6.

The 2015-2016 recognition was in the category of Hospitals with 100 to 299 Beds.

“Receiving this award further demonstrates EJCH’s commitment to patient safety and highlights the exemplary work done every day by our medication reconciliation team,” said David Lovell director of Emory Johns Creek’s Pharmacy Department.

The Society of Hospital Medicine chose six hospitals, including Emory Johns Creek, to participate in the federally funded Multi-Center Medication Reconciliation Quality Improvement Study, which started in 2010.

Inspired by MARQUIS, Emory Johns Creek launched a project called Medication Reconciliation: Reducing Pre-admission History Error & Optimizing the Discharge Medication Plan.

Both studies focused on improving ways medications are prescribed, documented and reconciled to prevent any harm from medications.

Prior studies have found that hospitals experience an average of seven medication reconciliation errors per patient, per admission. During Emory Johns Creek’s research, it discovered its average number was lower, with three to four errors per patient, per admission, but the hospital’s pharmacy believed those numbers could be improved.

The data collected prompted Emory to establish a Medication Reconciliation Assistants Program and a post-discharge Pharmacy Care Program. Both new initiatives helped prevent dangerous and costly medication errors and reduced readmissions.

The study revealed that six major post-discharge adverse drug events were avoided when 10 patients enrolled into the program.

Kathleen Herman, doctor of pharmacy at Emory Johns Creek Hospital, stated patients are typically at a higher risk if they take 10 or more medications. Herman says the medication reconciliation assistants target these patients and conduct before and after assessments.

Emory Johns Creek’s goal is to get the medication reconciliation form completed within eight hours for each high-risk patient.

“The goal is for every single patient coming into the ER or coming in for pre-op before surgery would have this assessment done,” Herman added. “This is not just for high-risk patients.”

After investigators finished the study, Emory hired certified pharmacy technician Erin McCollum in March 2014 as a full-time medication reconciliation assistant. Months later, the hospital added a second assistant, Alishia Davis, CPhT.

McCollum and Davis co-authored the hospital’s pharmacy study and collected data that has proven the medication reconciliation program saved $1 million in prevented medication reconciliation cases in Emory’s outpatient department.

According to Theradoc, an electronic clinical surveillance program used from March 2014 to November 2015 help ed Emory Johns Creek avoid major and minor adverse drug events.

The GHA award illustrates the amount of dedication Emory Johns Creek’s pharmacy department has given to provide excellent care to the community.

“This award proves that we truly care about our patients and are committed to putting them first and providing the best care possible here at EJCH,” says Davis.

The hospital hopes to hire another full-time medication reconciliation assistant in 2016 to allow a consistent presence from the pharmacy department in the emergency room.

---

Image via Shutterstock