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Background: Medication reconciliation aims to prevent unintentional medication discrepancies that can result in patient harm at transitions of care. Pharmacist-led medication reconciliation has clear benefits, however workforce limitations can be a barrier to providing this service. Pharmacy students are a potential workforce solution. Objective: To evaluate the number and type of medication discrepancies identified by pharmacy students. Methods: Fourth year pharmacy students completed best possible medication histories and identified discrepancies with prescribed medications for patients admitted to hospital. A retrospective audit was conducted to determine the number and type of medication discrepancies identified by pharmacy students, types of patients and medicines involved in discrepancies. Results: There were 294 patients included in the study. Overall, 72% (n=212/294) had medication discrepancies, the most common type being drug omission. A total of 645 discrepancies were identified, which was a median of three per patient. Patients with discrepancies were older than patients without discrepancies with a median (IQR) age of 74 (65-84) vs 68 (53-77) years (p=0.001). They also took more medicines with a median (IQR) number of 9 (6-3) vs7 (2-10) medicines per patient (p<0.001). The most common types of medicines involved were those related to the alimentary tract and cardiovascular system. Conclusions: Pharmacy students identified medication discrepancies in over 70% of hospital inpatients, categorised primarily as drug omission. Pharmacy students can provide a beneficial service to the hospital and contribute to improved patient safety by assisting pharmacists with medication reconciliation.

Sandipan Bhattacharjee,1 Jeannie K Lee,1 Nina Vadiei,1 Asad E Patanwala,2 Daniel C Malone,3 Shannon M Knapp,4 Wei-Hsuan Lo-Ciganic,5 William J Burke6 1Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science, College of Pharmacy, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA; 2Sydney Pharmacy School, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia; 3Department of Pharmacotherapy, Skaggs College of Pharmacy, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA; 4Statistics Consulting Laboratory, Bio5 Institute, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA; 5Department of Pharmaceutical Outcomes & Policy, College of Pharmacy, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA; 6Banner Alzheimer’s Institute, Phoenix, AZ, USACorrespondence: Sandipan BhattacharjeeDepartment of Pharmacy Practice and Science, The University of Arizona College of Pharmacy, Tucson, AZ, USATel +1 520 626-4124Fax +1 520-626-7355Email bhattacharjee@pharmacy.arizona.eduPurpose: Little is known about adherence to antidepressant treatment during acute and continuation phase of depression among older adults with dementia and newly diagnosed major depressive disorders (MDD). This study estimated the extent of and factors associated with adherence to acute and continuation phase antidepressant treatment among older adults with dementia and newly diagnosed MDD.Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using the Medicare 5% sample claims data (2012– 2013) among older adults (age≥ 65 years) with dementia who were newly diagnosed with MDD. Intake period of our study was from 01-May-2012 through 30-April-2013. The dependent variables of this study were acute and continuation phase depression treatment adherence. Factors associated with acute and continuation phase antidepressant treatment adherence were identified using multiple logistic regression analyses.Results: The final study sample consisted of 6239 [adherent: N=4644 (74.44%)] and 5617 [adherent: N=3584 (63.81%)] older adults with dementia and MD

Introduction: Airway management in the critically ill is associated with a high prevalence of failed first attempts and adverse events which negatively impacts patient care. The purpose of this investigation is to describe an airway continuous quality improvement (CQI) program and its effect on the safety of rapid sequence intubation (RSI) in the emergency department (ED) over a 10-year period.Methods: An airway CQI program with an ongoing airway registry was initiated in our ED on July 1, 2007 (Academic Year 1) and continued through June 30, 2017 (Academic Year 10). Data were prospectively collected on all patients intubated in the ED during this period using a structured airway data collection form. Key data points included method of intubation, drugs and devices used for intubation, operator specialty and level of training, number of intubation attempts, and adverse events. Adult patients who underwent RSI in the ED with an initial intubation attempt by emergency medicine (EM) resident were included in the analysis. The primary outcome was first pass success which was defined as successful tracheal intubation with a single laryngoscope insertion. The secondary outcome was the prevalence of adverse events associated with intubation. Educational and clinical interventions were introduced throughout the study period with the goal of optimizing these outcomes. Data were analyzed by academic year and are reported descriptively with 95% confidence intervals (CI) of the difference of means.Results: EM residents performed RSI on 342 adult patients during Academic Year 1 and on 445 adult patients during Academic Year 10. Over the 10-year study period, first pass success increased from 73.1% to 92.4% (difference = 19.3%, 95% CI 14.0% to 24.6%). The percentage of patients who experienced an adverse event associated with intubation decreased from 22.5% to 14.4% (difference = -7.9%, 95% CI -13.4% to -2.4%). The percentage of patients with first pass success without an adverse