Developing a medication-safety self-assessment tool for rural primary care units - a case from Finnish Lapland
Abstract Background In rural areas, primary care faces several challenges, and medication therapy is one of the most complex processes in primary care. With a specific, proactive, medication-safety self-assessment tool designed for rural primary care units, healthcare professionals could identify de...
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| Language: | English |
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BMC
2025-02-01
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| Series: | BMC Primary Care |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12875-025-02722-3 |
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| author | Päivi Sova Ercan Celikkayalar Sami Sneck Anna-Riia Holmström |
| author_facet | Päivi Sova Ercan Celikkayalar Sami Sneck Anna-Riia Holmström |
| author_sort | Päivi Sova |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background In rural areas, primary care faces several challenges, and medication therapy is one of the most complex processes in primary care. With a specific, proactive, medication-safety self-assessment tool designed for rural primary care units, healthcare professionals could identify development needs in their medication processes. Methods The Delphi consensus method with two Delphi rounds was used to create a medication-safety self-assessment tool for rural primary care units in Finnish Lapland. A preliminary tool was designed based on three national and international risk management tools. Statements of the preliminary tool were evaluated with a two-round Delphi panel by 12 experts in primary care and patient safety. Evaluated aspects were suitability for primary care settings, medication safety relevance, and the necessity of the statements to be included in the developed rural, primary care, medication-safety self-assessment tool. Results In the first Delphi round, a consensus of ≥ 85% on being “sufficiently important and essential” was reached on 39% of the statements (n = 118/304), of which 86% (n = 101/118) were included, and 14% (n = 17/118) were excluded from the final primary care medication- safety self-assessment tool. In the second round, 84% of the statements (n = 141/167) reached a consensus, of which 70% (n = 98/141) were excluded and 30% (n = 43/141) included in the final tool. The included 144 statements were divided into 12 thematic sub-groups: (1) Patient information, (2) Drug information, (3) Communication of drug orders and other drug information; (4) Drug labeling, packaging and nomenclature; (5) Drug storage and distribution, (6) Medication device acquisition and use, (7) Environmental factors, workflow and staffing patterns; (8) Staff competency and education, (9) Patient education, (10) Preventive risk management, 11. Learning from medication safety incidents, and 12. Electronic health record. Conclusions The developed medication-safety self-assessment tool is targeted for proactive medication risk management in rural primary care settings. While experts reached a consensus for the Primary care Medication Safety Self Assessment tool contents, adopting the tool to suit the rural primary care environments in different countries should be further investigated. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-d67907a74ffc483a91efb0769cb93c2b |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2731-4553 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Primary Care |
| spelling | doaj-art-d67907a74ffc483a91efb0769cb93c2b2025-02-09T12:48:31ZengBMCBMC Primary Care2731-45532025-02-0126111010.1186/s12875-025-02722-3Developing a medication-safety self-assessment tool for rural primary care units - a case from Finnish LaplandPäivi Sova0Ercan Celikkayalar1Sami Sneck2Anna-Riia Holmström3Clinical Support Services, Wellbeing Services County of LaplandDepartment of Clinical Support Services and Diagnostics, Wellbeing Services County of Kanta-HämeNursing Quality, Oulu University Hospital, The Wellbeing Services County of North OstrobothniaHOH Helsinki One Health, University of HelsinkiAbstract Background In rural areas, primary care faces several challenges, and medication therapy is one of the most complex processes in primary care. With a specific, proactive, medication-safety self-assessment tool designed for rural primary care units, healthcare professionals could identify development needs in their medication processes. Methods The Delphi consensus method with two Delphi rounds was used to create a medication-safety self-assessment tool for rural primary care units in Finnish Lapland. A preliminary tool was designed based on three national and international risk management tools. Statements of the preliminary tool were evaluated with a two-round Delphi panel by 12 experts in primary care and patient safety. Evaluated aspects were suitability for primary care settings, medication safety relevance, and the necessity of the statements to be included in the developed rural, primary care, medication-safety self-assessment tool. Results In the first Delphi round, a consensus of ≥ 85% on being “sufficiently important and essential” was reached on 39% of the statements (n = 118/304), of which 86% (n = 101/118) were included, and 14% (n = 17/118) were excluded from the final primary care medication- safety self-assessment tool. In the second round, 84% of the statements (n = 141/167) reached a consensus, of which 70% (n = 98/141) were excluded and 30% (n = 43/141) included in the final tool. The included 144 statements were divided into 12 thematic sub-groups: (1) Patient information, (2) Drug information, (3) Communication of drug orders and other drug information; (4) Drug labeling, packaging and nomenclature; (5) Drug storage and distribution, (6) Medication device acquisition and use, (7) Environmental factors, workflow and staffing patterns; (8) Staff competency and education, (9) Patient education, (10) Preventive risk management, 11. Learning from medication safety incidents, and 12. Electronic health record. Conclusions The developed medication-safety self-assessment tool is targeted for proactive medication risk management in rural primary care settings. While experts reached a consensus for the Primary care Medication Safety Self Assessment tool contents, adopting the tool to suit the rural primary care environments in different countries should be further investigated.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12875-025-02722-3Medication safetyMedication processRisk managementPrimary careRisk assessmentRural |
| spellingShingle | Päivi Sova Ercan Celikkayalar Sami Sneck Anna-Riia Holmström Developing a medication-safety self-assessment tool for rural primary care units - a case from Finnish Lapland BMC Primary Care Medication safety Medication process Risk management Primary care Risk assessment Rural |
| title | Developing a medication-safety self-assessment tool for rural primary care units - a case from Finnish Lapland |
| title_full | Developing a medication-safety self-assessment tool for rural primary care units - a case from Finnish Lapland |
| title_fullStr | Developing a medication-safety self-assessment tool for rural primary care units - a case from Finnish Lapland |
| title_full_unstemmed | Developing a medication-safety self-assessment tool for rural primary care units - a case from Finnish Lapland |
| title_short | Developing a medication-safety self-assessment tool for rural primary care units - a case from Finnish Lapland |
| title_sort | developing a medication safety self assessment tool for rural primary care units a case from finnish lapland |
| topic | Medication safety Medication process Risk management Primary care Risk assessment Rural |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12875-025-02722-3 |
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