Rachel L. Wasserman, PharmD, of the Department of General Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, is the lead author and David W. Bates, MD, medical director of Clinical and Quality Analysis for Mass General Brigham and Co-Director of the Center for Artificial Intelligence and BioInformatics for Mass General Brigham, is the senior author of a new study published in BMJ Quality & Safety , "Frequency and preventability of adverse drug events in the outpatient setting.
" Here, they answer questions about their research. Many studies have analyzed adverse drug events (ADEs) in the inpatient setting, but limited data exist regarding ADEs in the outpatient setting. This study is the largest recent study regarding outpatient ADEs; patients included a large population treated at multiple sites including primary care , specialty care and emergency departments, over a one-year period .
The aim of this study was to determine the incidence, severity, and preventability of ADEs in the outpatient setting and identify potential prevention strategies. We conducted an analysis of ADEs identified in a retrospective electronic health records review of outpatient encounters in 2018 of 13 outpatient sites in Massachusetts that included 13,416 outpatient encounters in 3,323 patients. Triggers were identified in the medical record including medications, consultations, laboratory results, and others.
If a trigger was detected, a further in-depth review was conducted by nurses and adjudicat.
