Grant: Operating Grant: SPOR iCT Rewarding Success - Travel Awards - BC

Medications have transformed the lives of Canadians suffering from complex medical conditions. As a result, medication use has increased, and with it the incidence of adverse drug events, harmful and unintended events related to medications. Ironically, the same medications used to prevent and treat illnesses have become the 3rd leading cause of death. Unfortunately, healthcare providers often unintentionally re-expose patients to medications which previously caused harm because they lack the means to reliably communicate adverse drug event information to one another and across health sectors. Our team designed ActionADE, a software application, to redress this situation. ActionADE allows clinicians to document adverse drug events electronically at the patient's bedside, and then send that information to PharmaNet, the province's drug dispensing database. From there, the information is automatically pushed to community pharmacies where most of the harmful drugs are currently re-dispensed. This is done whenever attempts are made to re-prescribe or re-dispense drugs that previously caused harm. We are a team of clinicians, patients, researchers and decision-makers who are working with BC's Ministry of Health, Vancouver Coastal Health and the Lower Mainland Pharmacy Services to pilot-test ActionADE in one hospital, while developing business cases for its broader implementation. In Rewarding Success, we plan to integrate ActionADE with the health authority's electronic medical record and PharmaNet, to share information about adverse drug events with other providers and across health sectors. Results from our evaluation will allow us to plan for broader implementations across BC and other jurisdictions. ActionADE has the potential to prevent repeat adverse drug events which currently make up 28.5% of all adverse drug events, and to reduce adverse drug event-related emergency department visits and admissions, thereby reducing costs and improving sustainability.