Kennedy, Amanda
Institution: University of Vermont
Grant Title: Outpatient
Prescription Errors
Grant Number: K08 HS013891
Duration: 5 years (2003-2008)
Total Award: $709,000
Project Description: The goal of this project is
to improve outpatient safety. This
research plan promotes the understanding of the causes of outpatient
prescription errors. The project has 3
main objectives:
- To develop and evaluate a novel reporting system in physicians' offices for detecting prescription errors.
- To develop and evaluate a novel improvement system in community pharmacies to increase prescription error reporting by pharmacists.
- To analyze reports of outpatient prescription errors and understand their root causes.
Career Goals: Dr. Kennedy is a clinical
pharmacist with a desire to become an independent investigator in the field of
patient safety. She would like to design
and execute solid study designs, conduct analyses, and nationally and locally
communicate the results. The candidate plans to become an experienced health
services researcher in outcomes research, technology assessment, and human
factors research.
Progress to Date: Dr. Kennedy is a licensed
Pharmacist in the state of Vermont. She has extensive academic training in the
responsible conduct of research, patient safety, statistics, root cause
analysis, database management, communication, and epidemiology. She has thus far developed two manuscripts
from her research. She attends a weekly
career development conference where topics related to medical error, root cause
analysis, and health disparities have been discussed. The grantee has been appointed role to the
Fletcher Allen Health Care Mortality.
The committee seeks to ensure that all unexpected hospital deaths are
investigated and quality improvement/patient safety measures can be
established, where appropriate.
Future Plans: Dr. Kennedy will complete the
piloting of interview questions for community pharmacists. She will continue to identify, recruit, and
enroll practices, collect and enter data, develop and administer surveys, and
begin the process of cleaning and analyzing.
Highlights and Specific Accomplishments:
- Professional
Associations:
- American Diabetes Association.
- Vermont/American Societies of Health-System Pharmacists.
- American College of Clinical Pharmacy.
- Ambulatory Care Practice and Research Network.
- Completed Human
Participant Protections Education for Research Teams, National Institutes of Health (NIH) online course.
- Submitted R03
application for research complementary to the K08.
- Poster presented
at the Society for General Internal Medicine's Annual Meeting.
- Teaching wise
prescribing to Primary Care providers through an Academic Detailing program,
sponsored by the University of Vermont's Area Health Education Centers and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont and the Vermont
Health Plan.
K-Generated Publications:
- Kennedy AG, Littenberg B. A dictation system for reporting prescription errors in community pharmacies. Int J Pharm Pract 2004;12:13-9.
- Kennedy AG, Littenberg B. Medication Error Reporting By Community Pharmacists. Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association (in press).
- Kennedy AG, MacLean CD, Littenberg B, et al. The Challenge of Achieving National Cholesterol Goals in Patients with Diabetes. Diabetes Care 2005;5(28):1029-34.
AHRQ Research Portfolio: Quality and Patient Safety; Pharmaceutical Outcomes; Training.
AHRQ Goals: Safety and Quality
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