: The proposed research seeks to evaluate the hospital-wide implementation of a multi-modal patient medication education system hereafter referred to as EPITOME-Enhanced Patient Safety Intervention to Optimize Medication Education. EPITOME is an evidenced-based program, modeled from the results of a medication education risk assessment conducted at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). This assessment demonstrated a significant increase in patient specific medication knowledge and a positive impact on patient medication adherence and patient satisfaction with medication use. EPITOME draws on health behavior change theory and utilizes a multidisciplinary approach, including structured medication ? education, administrative support and staff training, established quality improvement techniques, and ? consistent use of adjunctive or supportive information technology and automated systems, to maximize the impact of medication education provided to patients and increase the program's sustainability. Indeed, key components of EPITOME have been designed specifically to overcome the barriers to achieving positive patient safety outcomes that were identified in the risk assessment and other studies related to the patient discharge process and medication education programs. The intervention will be implemented and tested through a controlled trial involving two campuses of the UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside Hospital. The study has three primary aims: (1) Assess the impact of implementing a structured, multidisciplinary medication education program on patient safety outcomes; (2) Analyze the barriers to implementing a structured, multidisciplinary medication education program and develop and evaluate strategies for overcoming those barriers that will support and ensure the program's widespread acceptance, sustainability, and generalizability; (3) Develop a """"""""tool-kit"""""""" resource that promotes a generalizable and sustainable inpatient medication education process. Together, this set of aims creates a balance between understanding specific patient outcomes resulting from the intervention, improvements in the processes of care that lead to these outcomes, and the tools and resources that are necessary for sustaining and disseminating the intervention to other institutions. The intervention is expected to reduce 30-day hospital readmissions and polypharmacy, and improve patient satisfaction and medication adherence behaviors. Once generalized and disseminated, the intervention has the capacity to improve patient care in these outcome domains across all patients admitted to U.S. hospitals, thereby advancing the national public health agenda of making the health care delivery system safer. ? ?
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| Donihi, Amy Calabrese; Weber, Robert J; Sirio, Carl A et al. (2009) An advanced pharmacy practice experience in inpatient medication education. Am J Pharm Educ 73:11 |
