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February 2012
incorporating The Number One magazine for the care sector
no.189 • £4.75 In association with
Residents at risk finds new drugs research By Dominic Musgrave HALF of care home residents are at risk of harm from mistakes made in giving out their medication, it has been claimed. A joint study by the University of Warwick and the University of the West of England found that 52 per cent of the 345 people in 13 residential and nursing homes around the country who participated were exposed to ‘more serious’ errors, such as ‘attempts to give medication to the wrong resident’. In the first large scale study of its kind, more than 188,000 medication administrations day and night were analysed. The researchers found that over a three month period 90 per cent of residents were exposed to at least one error. Ala Szczepura, professor of health services research at Warwick Medical School, said the results prove that homes should use an electronic medication management system. She added: “Older people in longterm residential care are clearly at increased risk of medication errors. It is known that staff in care homes are administering, on average, seven different drugs to residents, and that medication rounds occupy approximately one-third of nursing
time. Since 37 per cent of people with dementia now live in a care home, many residents are unable to comment on their medication. “New technology such as a computerised barcode system can accurately alert staff to, and prevent, inappropriate attempts to administer drugs to residents. This tool can reliably be used by care staff as well as nurses to improve quality of care and patient safety.” Typically each resident received nine different drugs and was exposed to 206 medication administration episodes every month. On average each resident experienced 6.6 potential errors. The most common was attempting to give medication at the wrong time. Tariq Muhammad, managing director of Pharmacy Plus, who has developed a barcode system, said: “This has been a really important project looking at an often neglected area, the safety of people in residential care homes. “Care homes are not generally considered a priority, but they account for a large amount of NHS and social care costs and time. “One in 15 hospital admissions is due to medication errors, and the resultant cost of hospital stays to the NHS is £1billion per year.”
Home’s residents taught to lipread
Daytime television presenter and Alzheimer’s Society patron Fiona Phillips cut the ribbon to open a new 60bed care home in Devon. The former GMTV host performed the task at Eastleigh Care Homes’ new facility in South Molton, which features an innovative nurse call system and state-ofthe-art lighting that reduces anxiety in residents with dementia. To find out more turn to page 9.
RESIDENTS at a Northamptonshire care home have been learning to improve their communication skills by lipreading. Several residents at ExtraCare's Imperial Court in Rushden attended the class, run by qualified instructor Mandy Clark. Activity co-ordinator Ray Fortuinm who organised the classes, said: "It's a bit of a trial run, as I'm not sure how many residents will be interested. “We've got quite a few people who have some degree of hearing loss and I think it's definitely something that could help them and us." As well as teaching the group about the different lip shapes, Mandy also outlined several ways that people can fix a conversation after misunderstanding a word or not being able to hear what was said.