Background and Importance High Risk Medicines (HRMs) are medicines with an increased risk of significant harm to the patient if they are misused.

Regarding the storage of HRMs, our hospital guidelines are based on the reference system of our accreditation organisation.

Compliance with guidelines is essential to ensure the quality of care.

Aim and Objectives

• To determine the rate of adverse drug events related to HRMs.

• To evaluate the impact of the introduction of low-concentration electrolytes (KCl) on the consumption of concentrated electrolytes (KCl).

• To test the impact of pharmaceutical interventions on four quality indicators linked to HRMs storage in care units.

Material and Methods

• Among all the adverse drug events encoded during the year 2021, we identified those related to HRMs.

• A consumption analysis of injectable Potassium Chloride (KCl) concentrated and low-concentrated solutions was performed during the years 2018-2022.

• Audits targeting HRMs was conducted in 6 care units over a period of 3 weeks in December 2021. These audits focused on the following items : storage, quantity, labelling and expiry date of each HRM stored in care unit. During each audit, a pharmaceutical intervention took place as follows : tidying, relabelling, withdrawal of expired HRMs, feedback of audit, education and awareness. The impact of the pharmaceutical interventions was further evaluated. For comparison between the groups (pre-test and intervention groups), data were analysed using Chi Square test for al HRMs.

• The LEAN Methodology was used to draft our action plan to improve HRMs practices.

Results

• We identified that 14% of adverse drug events were related to HRMs.

• Our consumption analysis indicated that the introduction of low-concentrated KCl solutions in care units was not followed by the expected decrease in the prescriptions of injectable KCl concentrated solutions.

• A total of 171 HRMs were audited in care units. The impact of the pharmaceutical interventions performed during these quality audits was evaluated, which allowed to demonstrate a statistically significant improvement (p < 0,05) in terms of storage and expiry of HRMs.

Conclusion and Relevance This work highlights the importance of the hospital pharmacist as a key contributor in the continuous quality improvement approach to optimise the management of HRMs in a hospital.

References and/or Acknowledgements https://www.eahp.eu/24-5PSQ-161

Conflict of Interest No conflict of interest.