Am J Perinatol 2018; 35(14): 1419-1422
DOI: 10.1055/s-0038-1660837
Original Article
Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

National Survey of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Medication Safety Practices

Rachel G. Greenberg
1   Department of Pediatrics, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina
2   Duke Clinical Research Institute, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina
,
P. Brian Smith
1   Department of Pediatrics, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina
2   Duke Clinical Research Institute, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina
,
Carl Bose
3   Department of Pediatrics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
,
Reese H. Clark
4   Pediatrix Medical Group, Inc., Sunrise, Florida
,
C. Michael Cotten
1   Department of Pediatrics, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina
,
Chris DeRienzo
5   Department of Pediatrics, Mission Hospital, Asheville, North Carolina
› Author Affiliations
Funding This study was funded by grant NIH-5R21HD080606–02.
Further Information

Publication History

19 December 2017

14 May 2018

Publication Date:
15 June 2018 (online)

Abstract

Objective We conducted a detailed survey to identify medication safety practices among a large network of United States neonatal intensive care units (NICUs).

Methods We created a 53-question survey to assess 300 U.S. NICU's demographics, medication safety practices, adverse drug event (ADE) reporting, and ADE response plans.

Results Among the 164 (55%) NICUs that responded to the survey, more than 85% adhered to practices including use of electronic health records, computerized physician order entry, and clinical decision support; fewer reported adopting barcoding, formal safety surveys, and formal culture training; 137 of 164 (84%) developed at least one NICU-specific order-set with a median of 10 order-sets.

Conclusion Among our survey of 164 NICUs, we found that many safety practices remain unused. Understanding safety practice variation is critical to prevent ADEs and other negative infant outcomes. Future efforts should focus on linking safety practices identified from our survey with ADEs and infant outcomes.

Authors' Contributions

All authors have been involved in the study design, analysis, and manuscript revision. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Dr. Greenberg is the guarantor who accepts full responsibility for the work and the conduct of the study, had access to the data, and controlled the decision to publish. Dr. Greenberg had full access to all of the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. Dr. Greenberg contributed to the conception and design of the study, the data interpretation, the manuscript drafting, and the critical revision of the manuscript. Dr. Smith contributed to the conception and design of the study, the data interpretation, and the critical revision of the manuscript. Dr. Bose contributed to the conception and design of the study, the data interpretation and the critical revision of the manuscript. Dr. Clark contributed to the conception and design of the study, the data acquisition, the data interpretation, and the critical revision of the manuscript. Dr. Cotten contributed to the conception and design of the study, the data interpretation, and the critical revision of the manuscript. Dr. DeRienzo contributed to the conception and design of the study, and both supervised and contributed to the data acquisition and interpretation, manuscript drafting, and critical revision of the manuscript.


Supplementary Material

 
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