Implementation of a quality improvement initiative to ensure the safe transition from prior-to-admission concentrated insulins to a formulary insulin regimen ERICA J. RHEIN, PHARMD PGY1 PHARMACY PRACTICE RESIDENT PROVIDENCE ST. PATRICK HOSPITAL MISSOULA, MONTANA Disclosures IRB Status: Exempt Status Approved Co-Investigators: o Carla Federici, PharmD, BCPS o Jayme Hartzell, PharmD, BCPS o Amanda Patel, PharmD Conflicts of Interest: none. The use of brand names for insulin products will be used to clarify/simplify the presentation of treatments. No specific product endorsement is implied. Project Sponsorship: none 2 Learning Objectives 1. Identify products with high risk for error when transitioning patients from their home regimen to a formulary insulin regimen 2. Explain the process for ensuring accurate assessment of prior-to-admission (PTA) insulin dosing 3 1
Background Increasing availability and utilization of concentrated insulin as well as insulin with novel mechanisms of protraction When patients with insulin-dependent diabetes are hospitalized they must be continued on an insulin regimen Often, patients will need to be transitioned to an insulin regimen using the hospital s formulary insulin options Conversion of outpatient concentrated insulin regimens to inpatient regimens using formulary insulin options has become more complicated and prone to medication errors Insulin is defined as a high-alert medication in the acute care setting by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) 4 Background: new & concentrated insulins Short Acting Humalog U-200 (insulin lispro) Intermediate Acting Humulin R U-500 (regular insulin) Extended Action Toujeo (U-300 insulin glargine) Tresiba (U-100 and U-200 insulin degludec) 5 Background: new & concentrated insulins Toujeo and Lantus (insulin glargine) o Not bioequivalent o Toujeo Lantus : requires 20% dose reduction o Toujeo available in pen only Humulin R U-500 o Available in both a vial and insulin pen o Can be delivered using volumetric syringe, U-100 insulin syringe, or U-500 insulin syringe (new in 2016) o Most patients still use a U-100 insulin syringe Tresiba (U-100 and U-200 insulin degludec) o Duration of action of 42 hours o Dosing window can vary from 8-40 hours o Pen only 6 2
Objectives of study Develop concentrated insulin conversion process to safely transition patients to an inpatient formulary insulin regimen Implement an educational program for pharmacy staff and a standardized insulin conversion and documentation process Determine if the quality improvement (QI) initiatives implemented decrease the rate of concentrated insulin medication errors 7 Methods: Study Design Retrospective, single-center, observational review of voluntary reporting of medication errors Will include all patients admitted to our institution who were previously prescribed a concentrated insulin from: o January 2016 through September 2016 for the pre-qi group o October 2016 through May 2017 for the post-qi group 8 Methods: Data Collection Information collected from the electronic medical record (EMR) and from medication event reports included: o Presence of medication error severity and stage at which the error occurred as determined by Medication Safety Officer o Date of admission and length of stay o Type of concentrated insulin product PTA o Point of care blood glucose (BG) levels o Pharmacist adherence to protocol and documentation for the post-qi group o Provider acceptance of pharmacist recommendations for the post-qi group 9 3
Methods: Endpoints The primary outcome to be evaluated: o Self-reported medication error rates during the study period utilizing the hospital s error reporting software Secondary outcomes to be evaluated: o Medication errors stratified by stage at which they occurred o Medication errors stratified by severity category o Medication errors stratified by PTA insulin product o Blood glucose control o Pharmacist adherence to protocol o Prescriber acceptance to pharmacist recommendations 10 Medication Error Categories National Coordinating Council for Medication Error Reporting and Prevention Error Category Description A Circumstances or events with the capacity to cause error B Error occurred but did not reach the patient C Error reached patient but did not cause harm D Error reached patient and required additional monitoring or intervention to assure no harm E Error caused temporary harm and required intervention F Error caused temporary harm and required intervention and prolonged hospitalization G Error caused permanent harm to the patient H Error required intervention to sustain life I Error contributed to patient death 11 NCCMERP Website, 2016 Quality Improvement Initiatives QI strategies implemented September 2016 included: o Development of insulin dosing conversion spreadsheet o Pharmacist continuing education sessions (1.0 CE credits) Discussed unique pharmacokinetic and dynamic attributes of new and concentrated insulins and compared them to formulary insulin products Identification of insulin products with high risk for error Accurate assessment of PTA insulin dosing Demonstrated how to utilize the new pharmacy tools to correctly transition patients from their PTA regimen to a formulary inpatient insulin regimen Pharmacist documentation of process in EMR 12 4
Concentrated insulin dose verification Vial and syringe highest risk of dosing errors With Humulin R U-500 vials: must determine type of syringe used to measure dose o Pharmacists asks patient/caregiver to demonstrate how dose is drawn up using sample syringes o Need to determine if they are using syringe incorrectly, which with U-500 could be a significant difference in dose due to concentration Record syringe type, volume, and units of U-500 in EMR patient home medication list 13 Concentrated Insulin Pharmacy Process Verify correct documentation of insulin in patient s home medication list Order inpatient Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE) consult Required documentation in EMR o Verification of home concentrated insulin dosing and delivery device o Ordering of CDE consult o Dose of Lantus /Humalog recommended to provider o Provider response and changes, if applicable 14 15 5
Results: Baseline Characteristics Pre-QI (n=23) Post-QI (n=15) Average Age (years) 60.8 58.9 Male (%) 73.9 53.3 Length of stay (days) 7.3 4.6 A1c (%) 7.8 8.0 BG at admit (mg/dl) 178 186 Toujeo (%) 65.2 66.7 Tresiba (%) 4.3 6.7 HumulinR U-500 (%) 30.4 26.7 16 Results: Pre-QI Medication Errors 23 patient encounters 2 concentrated insulin medication errors reported Both involved Humulin R U-500 with a vial and U-100 syringe as the delivery device 17 Results: Pre-QI Medication Errors Error Stage Number 1 Physician ordering 2 Nurse administration Severity Description B C Patient on Humulin R U-500 concentrated insulin PTA taking 140 units every morning and 150 units every evening. Patient reported dose he measures with U- 100 insulin syringe as 28 units every morning and 30 units every evening. Admitting hospitalist entered orders as reported by patient instead of true dose. Patient on Humulin R U-500 concentrated insulin PTA. Nurse administered correct amount using U-100 insulin syringe but documented incorrect number of units. 18 6
Number of Medication Error Reports 4/26/2017 Results: Post-QI Medication Errors Data collection and analysis complete through the April 15, 2017 Primary endpoint: o 15 patient encounters o No medication errors involving concentrated insulin reported thus far in the post-qi initiative period o Error reporting system software upgrade occurred in December 2016 o Decrease in voluntary error reporting occurred, most likely due to user unfamiliarity 19 20 Medication Error Reporting by Month 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 85 75 94 80 71 69 65 63 50 71 62 41 53 67 67 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Month Pre-QI Post-QI Results: Blood Glucose Control Pre-QI patients converted to Lantus /Humalog 2% Post-QI patients converted to Lantus /Humalog 2% 36% 62% 51% 47% 21 7
Percent of BG measurements Percent of BG measurements 4/26/2017 Results: Blood Glucose Control Stratified by PTA Insulin 100% Pre-QI Initiative BG Control by PTA Insulin Type 100% Post-QI Initiative BG Control by PTA Insulin Type 90% 90% 80% 80% 70% 70% 60% 60% 50% 50% 40% 40% 30% 30% 20% 20% 10% 10% 22 0% Tresiba (n=1) Toujeo (n=15) Humulin R U-500 (n=7) 0% Tresiba (n=1) Toujeo (n=10) Humulin R U-500 (n=4) Results: Pharmacist Adherence & Provider Acceptance Post-QI 93% Pharmacist Adherence Prescriber Acceptance PTA med list correct 53% 40% Pharmacy CDE consult documentation ordered present 33% All items complete 47% 20% 33% Accepted Accepted, with changes No Rx documentation 23 Results: Blood Glucose Control by Presence of Pharmacist Documentation Post-QI Patients without Pharmacist Documentation 1% Post-QI patients with Pharmacist Documentation 4% 52% 47% 42% 54% 24 8
Results Summary Small population and sample sizes No concentrated insulin medication errors reported following implementation of QI initiative A greater percentage of BG checks were >180 mg/dl in the post-qi group regardless of PTA concentrated insulin type Overall pharmacist adherence to the concentrated insulin process and documentation was poor 25 Limitations Extremely small sample size A major limitation is the use of a voluntary self-reported medication error reporting system to collect data Error reporting system software upgrade during post-qi data collection with subsequent decrease in voluntary error reporting Poor pharmacist adherence to process, including ordering of CDE consult, may have contributed to decrease in BG control 26 Conclusion Unable to attribute lack of self-reported medication errors post-qi to actual impact versus a decrease in error reporting Increased pharmacist adherence to process and documentation may improve BG control o CDE consult ordering May need to adjust spreadsheet to allow 1:1 conversion from concentrated insulin to Lantus /Humalog regimen 27 9
Future Directions Complete and review remaining 1.5 months of data collection Perform statistical analysis on finalized data Present results to medication safety committee, inpatient diabetes subcommittee, and pharmacy staff Edit and streamline pharmacy processes to increase pharmacist adherence Continue to encourage staff education about new insulin formulations as they come to market 28 References 1. Andres J, Clements JN. A practical guide to concentrated insulin for pharmacists. J Pharm Pract. 2014;27(5):481-486. 29 2. Cochran E, Musso C, Gorden P. The use of U-500 in patients with extreme insulin resistance. Diabetes Care. May 2005;28(5):1240-1244. 3. Cochran EK, Valentine V, Samaan KH, Corey IB, Jackson JA. Practice tips and tools for the successful use of U-500 regular human insulin: the diabetes educator is key. Diabetes Educ. 2014;40(2):153-165. 4. Haahr H, Heise T. A review of the pharmacological properties of insulin degludec and their clinical relevance. Clinical Pharmacokinetics [serial online]. September 2014;53(9):787-800. Available from: MEDLINE Complete, Ipswich, MA. Accessed September 15, 2016. 5. Humulin R U-500 [Prescribing Information]. Indianapolis, IN: Eli Lilly and Company; 2016. 6. Humalog [Prescribing Information]. Indianapolis, IN: Lilly USA, LLC 2015. 7. Humalog U-200 KwikPen. 2016; http://www.humalog.com/humalog-u200-hcp.aspx. Accessed July 23, 2016. 8. Toujeo(R) [Guide for healthcare professionals]. Bridgewater, NJ: Sanofi Inc 2015. 9. Toujeo(R) [package insert]. Bridgewater, NJ: Sanofi Inc 2015. 10. Tresiba(R) [package insert]. Plainsboro, NJ: Novo Norodisk Inc 2016. 11. Vora J, Cariou B, Evans M, et al. Clinical use of insulin degludec. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2015;109(1):19-31. Questions? Contact Information: Erica Rhein erica.rhein@providence.org 30 10