Abstract
In hospitals, a considerable mortality and morbidity are reported due to adverse drug events (ADEs) which are crucial global clinical issue. Targeted injury detection system (TIDS) are implemented to overcome the rate of ADEs and evaluate the hospital safety environment. The predominant research query explored in this research article is: can a targeted injury detection system (TIDS) work in routine practice? To acknowledge this question a feasibility study was performed. The reasons for conducting the feasibility study are as follows: There are few previously published studies which have evaluated the use of prospective triggers/TIDS for enhancing patient outcomes. Previous interventions that employed a prospective trigger tool method have been shown to lead to positive outcomes in the US healthcare system and previous studies of prospective trigger tool methods have not been guided by in-depth research into their application in preventing ADEs in hospitalized patients. To recognize trends in pharmacist interventions during two reporting periods: baseline (phase I) and intervention (phase II) of the introduction of TIDS at King Fahd Military Medical Complex (KFMMC, Saudi Arabia), a list of selected clinical triggers were established that ward pharmacists would need to be aware of, categorized by different levels of importance and to evaluate whether the application of TIDS in a cardiology ward would reduce the ADEs and ameliorate the degree of harm. This study was designed using direct observation techniques as a controlled, intervention assessment study and conducted in a single center (KFMMC). The identified ADEs, patient data and pharmacist intervention reports were collected and recorded prospectively. The observational data was recorded in two phases from January to March 2012. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS version 25.0. In both phases, the triggers fired 184 times involving 166 patients. Eighty-five patients (51.2%) were male and 81 (48.8%) were female. Most of the study population were elderly (mean = 70.2 years old). Of the 166 patients, 78 went on to experience one or more related ADEs within 72 h after the initial trigger firing. The impact of TIDS was that a total number of 88 reports were received for the patients exposed to clinical pharmacist interventions within KFMMC. Instigating TIDS reduced ADEs rates and minimized the extent of incidents that resulted in patient harm. TIDS can be implemented into routine practice as the positive attitude was acknowledged by clinical and IT staff.