ARTICLE ON MM

Medication Monitoring:

Overview:

Medication monitoring is an important component in the palliative, symptomatic, and curative treatment of many disease and conditions. however, medications are also capable of causing great harm if the incorrect dose or medication is inadvertently administered to a patient. to eliminate any potential harm that could be caused by medications, hospitals need to develop an effective and safe medication management system.

A safe medication system addresses an organization's medication processes, which in many organizations includes the following(as applicable):

- Planning

- Selection and Procurement

- Storage

- Ordering

- Preparing and Dispensing

- Administration

- Evaluation

What is Medication?

The use of medications is an integral part of medical care in hospitals. It is uncommon that a hospitalized patient does not require any medication.The number of medications used in hospitals is very much dependent of the acuity level of the patient’s condition and whether or not the patient is suffering from chronic diseases.Medication management is usually a multidisciplinary and coordinated effort of staff applying the principles of effective process design, implementation, and improvement to the selecting, procuring, storing, ordering/prescribing, transcribing, distributing, preparing, dispensing, administering, documenting, and monitoring of medication usage.

Getting started 

Monitoring and assessing the pharmaceutical sector are vital to determine if the key pharmaceutical objectives are met: people have access to essential medicines, these medicines are safe, effective and of good quality, and they are used correctly. A systematic method to assess and monitor the impact of strategies and activities will provide information on issues and gaps, all-important input in the development of 

health policies. 

Medication Monitoring and Use (MMU)

Organization and Management

MMU. 1 Medication use in the organization complies

 with applicable laws and regulations and is

 organized to meet patient needs

Selection and Procurement

MMU. 2 An appropriate selection of medications for prescribing or ordering is stocked or readily available

Storage

MMU. 3 Medications are properly and safely stored

Ordering and Transcribing

MMU .4 Prescribing, ordering, and transcribing are guided by policies and procedures

Preparing and Dispensing

MMU. 5 Medications are prepared and dispensed in a safe and clean environment

Administration

MMU. 6 The organization identifies those qualified

 individuals permitted to administer medications

Monitoring

MMU. 7 Medication effects on patients are monitored

Medication Errors	Types of Errors
Prescribing 38%	Wrong Dose 28%	Drug-drug Interaction 3%
Transcription 12%	Wrong Choice 9%	Wrong route 2%
Dispensing 11%	Wrong Drug 9%	Extra Dose 1%
Administration 38%	Known Allergy 8%	Failure to act on a test 1%
Monitoring 1%	Missed Dose 7%	Equipment Failure 1%

The medication management cycle encompasses all the activities required to manage the quality use of medicines for patients at each episode of care. These activities are:

• Decide appropriate treatment and if a medicine is required, decide to prescribe the safest and most cost effective medicine.
• Transfer the intention to prescribe via a prescription or medicine order to others involved in the medication  management cycle.
• Review the medicine order to ensure optimal use of the medicine, compliance with legislation, clinical  appropriateness, and verification of prescribing intent and expected outcomes.
• Prepare the medicines safely and accurately.  
• Issue the correct medicine with appropriate labelling to ensure the person administering the medicine understands  the prescriber’s intent.
• Provide appropriate information to the patient about the medicine, including how to store and use it properly.  
• Distribute and store the medicine safely.  
• Re-assess the need for the medicine (for example, pain relief, symptom control).  
• Confirm that the correct medicine has been supplied and administer as prescribed.  
• Monitor the response to the medicine; this includes self-monitoring by the patient and clinical monitoring by the health care professional.
• With the patient’s consent and in a timely manner, transfer accurate information about the medicine to the health care professional involved in the next episode of care.

Continuity in medication management occurs when all components of the medication management cycle, relevant  to the episode of care, are completed and information is transferred to the next care setting. Significant patient harm and sub-optimal use of medicines frequently result from discontinuity. An organisational systems approach has been shown to improve continuity in medication management

 Why monitor and assess?

• ƒ To assess country capacity (infrastructures and resources)
• ƒ To review implementation strategies so adjustments can be made
•  To measure outcome of pharmaceutical objectives (access and rational use of quality medicines); and
• To evaluate progress towards identified objectives

Challenges for monitoring and assessment of public policies

• It is difficult to establish a sustainable system of regular monitoring
• Resources are not consistently allocated to this task 
• There is limited advocacy for a culture of monitoring 
• Many efforts to develop monitoring tools have been exhaustive, but impractical
• Most monitoring tools include indicators that are difficult to collect, especially if done regularly Introduction

Repository:

• Deemsys Inc(http://www.learnguild.com/)
• Deemsys Inc (http://deemsysemr.blogspot.in/2014/03/emr-vs-ehr-whats-differences.html)
• Deemsys Inc (http://itdeemsys.blogspot.in/2014/02/seo-articledeemsys-inc.html)

Founded 1998 in USA

 Formed as a Corporation in 2002

Medication monitor - subsidiary of Deemsys Inc.

Focuses on End-to-End Medication Monitoring

 www.americannurses.com

 www.educationmonitor.com

 www.medsmonit.com

 www.Bephit.com