Adverse Drug Events

When it comes to reducing adverse drug events, we have our work cut out for us. 

An adverse drug event (ADE) is widely defined as an injury to a patient that results from a medication intervention. According to the U.S. Department of Human Health and Services, 30 percent of inpatients will experience an ADE. Many of them are related to opioids, anticoagulants and diabetes agents. 

Throughout 2016, IHA’s Indiana Patient Safety Center (IPSC) hosted open office hours and topic-specific coaching calls related to adverse drug events. From September 2015 to September 2016, the IHA helped prevent more than 1,800 adverse drug events through HEN 2.0. 

But our work related to ADEs has just begun. In fact, the goal is that by September 2018 each hospital participating in the Hospital Improvement Innovation Network (HIIN), the successor program to HEN 2.0, will reduce ADEs by at least 20 percent or maintain a rate of zero for 12 months. 

Interested in joining our efforts to reduce ADEs? Contact Madeline Wilson or Rebecca Hancock

Additional resources for ADEs: 

2014 ADE Webinar Series 

In partnership with the Center for Medication Safety Advancement (CMSA) at Purdue University's College of Pharmacy, IHA hosted a series of webinars focusing on improvement in the safety of anticoagulation therapy management. 

  • Considerations for Safe Opioid Prescribing and Use Webinar 
    • John Hertig, PharmD, and Trang Truong, PharmD, from CMSA presented on reducing harm associated with opioid use by identifying safety risks associated with the use of opioid medications, implementing evidence-based best practices and assessing the potential impact of the new Indiana opioid prescribing law. 
    • Download the slides for the Oct. 23, 2014 webinar. Stream an audio recording of the Oct. 23 webinar. You must first download the zip file and click on the “Clickme” Batch File to stream the audio recording. 
  • Enhancing Safety of Insulin Use in the Inpatient Setting Webinar
    • John Hertig, PharmD, and Katelyn Brown, PharmD, from CMSA focused on reducing harm, specifically hypoglycemia, associated with insulin utilization within the inpatient setting. Participants learned how to identify safety risks associated with insulin, implement evidence-based best practices and measure their progress of reducing harm associated with insulin. 
    • Download the slides for the Sept. 30, 2014 webinar. Stream an audio recording of the Sept. 30 webinar. You must first download the zip file and click on the “Clickme” Batch File to stream the audio recording. 
  • Adverse Drug Event Resources and Coaching Webinar
    • John Hertig, PharmD, from CMSA discussed tools to standardize intravenous solution concentrations and the Anticoagulation Toolkit. 
    • Download the PowerPoint slides ostream an audio recording of the June 17 webinar. You must first download the zip file and click on the “Clickme” Batch File to stream the audio recording.

Anticoagulation ADE Webinar Series 

  • Best Practices in Care Transitions of Anticoagulation
    • In this webinar from Oct. 15, 2013, transitions of care and the roles of health care professionals and patients were defined. Elements for success in transition care models were identified and best practices in transitioning care involving anticoagulation explained. Download the PowerPoint slides 
  • Pharmacists' Role in Anticoagulation
    • This webinar from Oct. 23, 2013 outlined benefits of a pharmacist-run anticoagulation program, identified strategies used to implement an anticoagulation program and evaluated the potential cost savings to an institution with a pharmacist-run anticoagulation program. Download the PowerPoint slides
  • Medication Reconciliation with Anticoagulation
    • This webinar from Oct. 29, 2013 identified key factors to consider when performing medication reconciliation for a patient on anticoagulation, defined health literacy and identified strategies to improve health literacy for those patients on anticoagulation therapy. Download the PowerPoint slides.