Leveraging Advancements in Technology

by matt depenbrock

With an estimated 800,000 preventable medication-related injuries occurring every year in U.S. long-term care (LTC) facilities, preventing medication errors is a top priority for senior living providers. By harnessing the power of rapidly evolving technologies, along with the right combination of people, skillsets, and processes, providers are reimagining medication safety strategies to significantly reduce the frequency of medication errors in their communities.

Medication errors not only have the potential to seriously harm residents but due to increased cost of treatment, they can result in substantial economic burden for both residents and operators. Most medication errors occur due to human mistakes and can happen during any stage of the medication management process, including data entry, transitions in care settings, medication administration, or prescribing. Common types of medication errors include prescribing a dose that is too high or too low, administering the wrong medication to the wrong resident, omitting a dose, or administering the wrong strength or form of a drug. Opioid pain medications, antidiabetic agents, blood thinners, and antiplatelet agents are the most common drug classes associated with medication errors, accounting for over 50% of emergency room visits for medication-related adverse events in Medicare patients. When embraced by the multi-disciplinary team, technology can play a crucial role in improving medication safety by reducing errors, streamlining processes, improving communication, and providing actionable data and insights.

Senior care pharmacists are key members of the multidisciplinary team, bringing their expertise of the unique medication-related needs of older adults. With new technologies at their disposal, they can be one of the best resources for helping senior living operators improve the safety of medication management in their communities. Even when residents receive prescriptions from multiple doctors, by having real-time access to the community’s electronic health record (EHR) and the LTC pharmacy’s dispensing system, LTC pharmacists have a comprehensive view of residents’ medications, allowing them to ensure that drug regimens are safe and appropriate. They can identify concerns such as inappropriate dosage, drug interactions, or potential adverse reactions and intervene early to prevent small errors from becoming serious health issues. Pharmacists’ interventions can now be communicated to community staff or prescribers through HIPAA secure messaging applications and online pharmacy portals. These clinical interventions can be tracked for analysis and the resulting data can help operators identify highrisk areas and focus their quality improvement initiatives.

In addition to leveraging the expertise and resources of their senior care pharmacists, senior living operators today have access to a range of medication safety innovations. By embracing the technologies provided by their EHR vendor, including the integration between the EHR application and the LTC pharmacy’s dispensing system, they can enhance the accuracy of medication profiles. Browser-based pharmacy portals offer insight into the inner workings of the LTC pharmacy, including realtime tracking of medication orders. Nursing staff can now see the electronic prescriptions received by pharmacy, clarify orders with pharmacy staff via secure texting on their smart phones, and view proof of delivery signatures for medications delivered by pharmacy. Smart packaging technology with barcode scanning improves efficiencies while reducing medication administration errors. Barcode scanning also streamlines the medication destruction process, saving time and reducing the risk for drug diversion when controlled medications are stored pending destruction. With these technologies providing unprecedented transparency into pharmacy processes and improved accuracy during medication administration, senior living operators are revolutionizing their approach to medication safety and utilizing data insights to support their initiatives.

The future of medication safety in senior living lies in embracing cutting-edge technologies such as integrated EHR systems, barcoded smart packaging, and applications that provide realtime order tracking and improved pharmacy communication. These tools provide pharmacists and community staff with transparent medication management processes and a comprehensive view of residents’ medication profiles, enabling them to proactively improve safety. Working with a knowledgeable LTC pharmacy is crucial to successfully implement these technologies and leverage the data and insights they provide to support initiatives and measure success. By adopting these technologies and partnering with an experienced LTC pharmacy, senior living operators are taking a proactive approach to reducing medication errors and enhancing the quality of care in their communities.

matt depenbrock Business Development Leader Guardian Pharmacy of Florida

Through its seven local pharmacies, Guardian’s pharmacies provide outstanding client service and resident care to long-term care communities, including assisted living and skilled nursing, group home, behavioral health and to organizations that serve individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities across the entire state.