LAKE FOREST, Ill., May 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Hospira (NYSE:
HSP), a leading provider of clinical information and medication
delivery technologies, today introduced the new Anticoagulation
Assistant™ knowledge module as part of its TheraDoc™ clinical
surveillance platform. Anticoagulation Assistant is designed to
help hospitals comply with a 2010 Joint Commission National Patient
Safety Goal to reduce the risk of adverse events associated with
anticoagulation therapy.
Although anticoagulation therapy is widely used to effectively
treat many conditions, adverse events frequently occur due to
dosing complexities and difficulties monitoring the safety and
efficacy of the medication. Anticoagulants are associated with
approximately nine percent of all hospital adverse drug events
(ADEs).(1) With 117,700 ADEs each year related to anticoagulant
therapy, these types of medication errors represent an annual
financial burden of up to $1 billion
on the healthcare system.(1,2)
The Anticoagulation Assistant module helps clinicians prevent
patient harm by tracking the condition of patients receiving
anticoagulation therapy and providing early indications of
potential therapeutic concerns or ADEs. Effective monitoring of
anticoagulants is essential, with 6.2 percent of patients impacted
by an anticoagulant medication error requiring medical intervention
and 1.5 percent needing prolonged hospitalization.(3)
The launch of the Anticoagulation Assistant module follows the
introduction of an Anticoagulation Alerts package in 2009. Designed
for use with the TheraDoc Expert System Platform™ core technology,
the Anticoagulation Assistant provides an expanded set of alerts,
clinical case dashboards, intervention documentation and a patient
flag model for tracking therapy based on Joint Commission
standards. The Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goal
Accreditation Program indicates that hospitals use standardized
practices for anticoagulation therapy and evaluate practices to
help reduce the risk of ADEs associated with anticoagulants.(4) The
Anticoagulation Assistant supports these important practices,
helping to streamline caregiver communication, improve clinical
workflow and enhance patient safety.
Pharmacists and clinicians at the University of Pittsburgh
Medical Center (UPMC) are using Hospira's TheraDoc Anticoagulation
Assistant software to capture pertinent data and send
anticoagulation-related alerts to staff to help prevent patient
injury and document compliance with the National Patient Safety
Goal.
"The TheraDoc platform has become the backbone of our
anticoagulation program to help us quickly catch and document
potential adverse events, tests that need to be ordered, or lab
values that are too high or too low," said Sue Skledar, R.Ph., M.P.H., F.A.S.H.P., director
of the Drug Use and Disease State Management Program at UPMC. "It's
quick and efficient, and it can be set up to let you know
immediately when something needs to be addressed. Rather than
looking at five or six reports, TheraDoc provides a single,
integrated system for alerting us if we need to take action."
According to Stanley Pestotnik,
M.S., R.Ph., general manager, TheraDoc, Hospira, the
Anticoagulation Assistant exemplifies the role the TheraDoc
platform plays in helping clinicians address patient safety and
medication error prevention with clinical information technology.
"Hospira's TheraDoc system takes data from a range of sources
within the hospital and turns it into actionable information,
alerting caregivers to clinically significant events to help them
make appropriate -- and timely -- interventions," Pestotnik said.
"Our platform approach allows healthcare providers to address a
variety of patient care issues, ranging from Joint Commission
patient safety goals to unanticipated challenges such as the H1N1
influenza outbreak."
With Hospira's patented TheraDoc Expert System Platform as the
engine, the Anticoagulation Assistant complements several hospital
surveillance modules already powered by TheraDoc, including the ADE
Assistant™, Clinical Alerts Assistant™, Antibiotic Assistant™ and
the company's leading TheraDoc module, Infection Control
Assistant™. With 1.7 million hospital acquired infections (HAIs)
occurring annually, Johns Hopkins used
Infection Control Assistant to help reduce HAI confirmation time by
50 percent while achieving 98 percent accuracy of infection
identification.(5,6) For more information about the TheraDoc
platform, visit www.theradoc.com.
About Hospira
Hospira, Inc. is a global specialty pharmaceutical and
medication delivery company dedicated to Advancing Wellness™. As
the world leader in specialty generic injectable pharmaceuticals,
Hospira offers one of the broadest portfolios of generic acute-care
and oncology injectables, as well as integrated infusion therapy
and medication management solutions. Through its products, Hospira
helps improve the safety, cost and productivity of patient care.
The company is headquartered in Lake
Forest, Ill., and has approximately 13,500 employees. Learn
more at www.hospira.com.
1
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Elixhauser A. and
Owens P. (AHRQ). Adverse Drug Events in U.S. Hospitals, 2004. HCUP
Statistical Brief #29. April 2007. Agency for Healthcare Research
and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb29.pdf
Accessed Dec. 30, 2009.
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2
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Aspden P, Wolcott
J, Bootman J, Cronenwett L, eds. Preventing Medical Errors: Quality
Chasm Series. Washington DC: National Academies Press; 2007.
Accessed May 15, 2009.
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3
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Fanikos J,
Stapinski C, Koo S, Kucher N, Tsilimingras K, Goldhaber SZ.
Medication errors associated with anticoagulant therapy in a
hospital. Am J Cardiol.2004; 94(4):532-5.
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4
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The Joint
Commission. Accreditation Program: Hospitals National Patient
Safety Goals (pre-publication copy). 2009. The Joint Commission on
Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.
http://www.jointcommission.org/NR/rdonlyres/868C9E07-037F-433D-8858-0D5FAA4322F2/0/RevisedChapter_HAP_NPSG_20090924.pdf
Accessed Feb. 22,
2010.
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5
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Klevens RM,
Edwards JR, et. al. Estimating health care-associated infections
and deaths in U.S. hospitals. Public Health Reports: Volume 122,
March–April 2007. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/pdf/Scott_CostPaper.pdf
Accessed Nov. 4, 2009
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6
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Xiaoyan S, Mackie
K, et. al. Benefits of using TheraDoc to assist in surveillance for
central line associated nomsocomial bloodstream Infections
(CA-BSIs). 17th Annual Scientific Session. SHEA, 2006.
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SOURCE Hospira, Inc.