"Clearly, there is no single cause for this problem and no single solution, either," said Strom. "But it is a problem that can be solved, and this center brings together researchers that will address both the clinical and societal issues behind medication errors."
Indeed, the centers investigators hail a host of different backgrounds, including pharmaceutical epidemiology, health services research, biostatistics, occupational medicine, sociology, psychology, and economics. They will be drawing on Penns 20 years of experience in studying medication safety problems to conduct multidisciplinary research and education programs designed to identify and implement systematic approaches to reducing errors. The AHRQ grant is also recognition of the success and prominence of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvanias Drug Use and Effects Program in to reduce medication errors.
The center has already designed four inaugural projects that attack the problem of medication errors in real-world clinical settings. The projects are based at Penn and linked to the government of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as well as a national network of medication education and research centers.
The first project investigates factors that may predispose elderly patients to hospitalizations due to errors in medication use. For this project, collaboration with a state-run, population-based pharmaceutical benefit program will greatly enhance the ability to widely examine dose-related medication errors among elderly individuals taking specific high-risk drugs. This project should help create a prediction rule to identify and decrease medication errors in high-risk patients that result in hospitalization.
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Contact: Greg Lester
lesterg@uphs.upenn.edu
215-349-5658
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
17-Oct-2001