159 Antibiotic Omissions: A Missed Dose Means A Missed Chance to Save A Life! Is E-Prescribing the Answer?

Omissions and delay in antimicrobial therapy are common in acute hospitals with an untowrds impact on patient outcomes resulting in harm and prolong stay. We carried out a Quality Improvement Project (QIP) assessing 2 interventions in PDSA cycles to improve situation. This QIP was done in 3 stages and involved about 80 patients over 7 months. We collected data regarding antibiotic omissions on 3 random separate days which gave baseline omission rate. This was 8.5% and quite higher than the national average (5.3%). The reason for the omissions was not documented on the drug kardexes on most occasions. Initial intervention included staff education, verbally and through posters. Post intervention data was collected again on 3 separate days. This showed improvement and the omission rate fell from 8.5% to 5.6%. The percentage of omissions with no code written reduced from 56.25% to 18.18%. The second intervention included participation in EPMA (Electronic prescribing and medicines administration) pilot on the ward. Post EPMA, the omission rate reduced to 4.59%. All omissions had now a code written. The phenomenon of Antibiotic Omissions is an open challenge and its consequences are serious. We can conclude from our study that educational measures though effective are likely to be short-lived.Therefore, it can be asserted that Electronic prescribing is appropriate solution for antibiotic omissions and it also opens up new horizons for patient safety.