31 March 2014
Medication is the most common intervention in clinical practice, costing the NHS around £13 billion per year. There are many problems with medication use in practice: 30%–50% of medicines are not taken as intended; patients have insufficient information about their medicines, while there is an expectation that they should share in making decisions about their treatment; medication errors and adverse drug events are relatively common across all sectors and age groups; and avoidable wastage on medicines may exceed £150 million per year in the NHS. In the UK, medication errors account for 10%–20% of all adverse events in the NHS, and preventable harm from medicines is estimated to cost more than £750 million each year.
To address the training need relating to medicines management and medicines optimisation, an eLearning programme for nurses was developed, based on the established successful SCRIPT programme for Foundation trainee doctors (available at www.safeprescriber.org). The aims of the project were to:
The University of Birmingham and OCB Media Ltd, in collaboration with Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust, were commissioned to develop the resource. It has also been developed in close collaboration with Health Education England.
Dr Jamie Coleman
t: 0121 371 8061