Summaries of Independent Scientist (K) Awards

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:

1. To develop and evaluate a novel reporting system in physicians' offices for detecting prescription errors.
2. To develop and evaluate a novel improvement system in community pharmacies to increase prescription error reporting by pharmacists.
3. 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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