The College of Pharmacy discussed the MSc thesis entitled “Exploring Factors behind Safe Management of High Alert Medications from the Perspectives of Pharmacists and Physicians in Wasit Hospitals: Mixed Methods Study” by the student Mustafa Sahib Jawad and the supervisor, Assistant Professor Dr. Fadya Yaqoob Alhamadani, at the Clinical pharmacy Department.
The study aimed to explore the key aspects related to the safe management, prescribing, and use of high-alert medications in Wasit Hospitals, identify the factors and challenges that may affect the implementation of medication safety practices from the perspectives of clinical pharmacists and physicians, assess the availability of clear protocols and procedures to support the safe use of these medications and reduce medication errors.
The study included a sequential mixed-methods design (qualitative–quantitative) conducted in several hospitals in Wasit Governorate. The first phase involved semi-structured qualitative interviews with clinical pharmacists and physicians to explore their experiences and practices related to the safe management of high-alert medications. The interviews focused on identifying the major challenges and factors affecting the prescribing, use, monitoring of these medications. The second phase involved a quantitative study using a questionnaire administered to clinical pharmacists, the questionnaire was developed based on the main domains and themes identified from the qualitative interviews. Integrating qualitative and quantitative data provided a more comprehensive understanding of the current management of high-alert medications in Wasit Hospitals.
The results showed that participants faced several challenges that affected the safe management of high-alert medications. The main challenges included heavy workloads, staff shortages, alert fatigue associated with frequent medication alerts, weak medication safety culture, which limited the effective use of protocols and preventive procedures, despite participants having a good level of knowledge regarding the risks associated with high-alert medications, the implementation of safety practices was not always consistent, similar medication packaging and limited resources increased reliance on individual and informal practices. Overall, safety practices were more reactive than proactive, with considerable reliance on healthcare professionals’ vigilance and personal experience.
The study recommended establishing a standardized master list of high-alert medications and updating it annually according to the needs of hospitals, integrating high-alert medication (HAM) alerts into Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS) to reduce medication errors and improve prescribing practices , continuous training programs led and supervised by pharmacists, particularly in critical care and respiratory wards, should be provided, strengthening the medication safety culture and providing formal protocols, adequate resources, sufficient staffing were recommended to support the sustainable implementation of safe high-alert medication management practices.
