Principal Investigator (PI): Tosha Wetterneck, MD; Paul D. Smith, MD (co-PI)

PI Department: Department of Medicine

Project Study Title: Assessing Risk in Ambulatory Medication Use after Hospital Transitions

Summary of Study: The purpose of this study is to conduct a proactive risk assessment of the medication information management (MIM) process in primary care clinics as a means to identify hazards/failures that potentially affect safety or quality of care. The study will evaluate three primary care practices to assess and identify hazards during the transition from hospital care to ambulatory care.

Objective: The objectives of this study are to identify the system failures in the MIM process and to identify what methods primary care clinic staff and patients use to detect and correct failures in the MIM process. Study results will provide information detailing the types of hazards and failures that exist, the level of risk of each hazard, and possible mitigation strategies.

Study Design: The study will recruit 3 WREN primary care clinics to participate. The study will consist of workflow analysis and interviews with providers, staff and patients in primary care clinics with subsequent performance of the proactive risk assessment (PRA) using failure modes and effects analysis and fault-tree analysis techniques.

DFM Clinic(s): WREN primary care clinics

DFM Faculty Contact: Paul D. Smith, MD

Study Contact Person:

Tosha Wetterneck, MD
(608) 890-2110
(608) 263-9355
tbw@medicine.wisc.edu

Date of Approval: 2008

Dates of Study: Ongoing