Patient Engagement in Reporting Medication Events During Transitions of Care

Engaging cancer patients to communicate medication-related experiences and concerns with their healthcare team via an electronic patient safety event reporting platform has the potential to reduce adverse medication events during hospital-to-home transitions of care.

Project Details -
Ongoing

Patients with cancer experience frequent transitions of care (TOC) that may lead to uncoordinated care, poor patient outcomes, and adverse medication events. In particular, patients receiving oral anticancer medications are at increased risk of experiencing life-threatening drug interactions at home and face challenges related to managing their complex multi-drug regimens. Although electronic reporting systems exist for patients to communicate medication events with their providers, little is known about how to effectively engage patients in using those reporting tools.

To address this issue, researchers at the University of Michigan and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston will jointly develop a patient-centered patient safety event (PSE) reporting platform to engage and guide patients in reporting their medication-related experiences and concerns during TOC, including medication errors, potential toxicities, and medication adherence.

The specific aims of the research are as follows:

  • Identify facilitators and barriers to patient engagement in reporting medication events via a reporting tool during care transitions.
  • Develop a patient-centered electronic reporting system to engage patients and families in medication event reporting during transitions of care.
  • Evaluate usability and patient engagement in the use of the reporting platform, and assess outcomes of use.

To achieve these aims, the research team will use a mixed-methods approach and conduct surveys and interviews with patients who have been diagnosed with lung, colorectal, breast, or prostate cancer and who have experienced at least one care transition from a hospital or clinic to the home in the past year. These findings will be used to inform the design of an interoperable, user-centered PSE reporting platform that incorporates consumer health vocabulary, medication guides, and relevant patient education materials. The research team will then evaluate the usability of the PSE platform and assess changes in patient outcomes over time.

This research will inform, engage, and empower patients to be active participants in their own care; increase the general understanding of PSE reporting mechanisms during vulnerable transitions in care; and enable patient-reported PSE to be aggregated and shared with care teams.