Characterizing Perceptions of an Abbreviated ISMP Medication Safety Self-Assessment for Community Pharmacies

Abstract Background Medication errors are costly to the United States health system and contribute to thousands of deaths annually. To prevent medication errors, organizations, such as the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, create resources to advance knowledge on safe practices. One such resource is the Medication Safety Self-Assessment® for Community and Ambulatory Pharmacies (MSSA-CAP). Objective Time constraints are common barriers to implementing safety initiatives. Therefore, this study sought to characterize users’ perceptions of-, and identify the average time needed to complete a newly abbreviated version of the ISMP’s MSSA-CAP. Methods This study took place within a large, national, non-profit, faith-based health system. An abbreviated version of ISMP’s MSSA-CAP was developed via an iterative process by researchers and the health system’s medication safety officers (i.e. MSOs, or “users”). Retained items included those with non-overlapping: (1) bolded or key-words; (2) “quick asks,” answerable without external information; or (3) important/relevant to community pharmacy (i.e., non-ambulatory care specific). During site visits, MSOs assessed the organization’s community pharmacies with the abbreviated tool. Users completed pre- and post-visit surveys, comparing their perceptions of the full and abbreviated versions. Results were analyzed via descriptive statistics. Results Sixty of the original ISMP MSSA-CAP’s 216-items were retained. Between August to December 2019, six MSO users assessed 59 community pharmacies across 10 states with the abbreviated assessment. On average, users reported needing 86.1 ± 35.4 minutes to complete the abbreviated assessment. Sixty-seven percent of users agreed or strongly agreed that the abbreviated assessment was a good length, compared to only 17%, for the full assessment. Collectively, assessed community pharmacies scored highest on items related to Physical Environment and Prescription Labels, and lowest on Hard Stops and Proactive Risk Assessments. Conclusion Streamlining items in medication safety assessment tools may be useful in overcoming time barriers to its implementation in community pharmacies.