DRUG-RELATED HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS - RESULTS FROM AN INTERVENTION PROGRAM

As part of a high-intensity monitoring study of drug events as the cau se of admission to departments of internal medicine, the effect of an educational intervention programme was studied. Two departments were i ncluded, one specialising in geriatrics and one that received patients by non-selected referral. The series consisted of 607 consecutive adm issions studied before and 703 after the intervention. The drug events considered were adverse drug reactions and dose-related therapeutic f ailures, mainly due to non-compliance. A modest, statistically non-sig nificant decrease in drug related hospital admissions (DRH) was seen, from 14 % before to 13 % after the intervention period. However, DRHs classified as definitely avoidable showed the significant decrease of 83 %. There was no apparent relationship between the topics selected f or the intervention programme and changes in the pattern of DRHs. No r elationship between alterations in sales data and hospital admissions caused by a given drug could be demonstrated. A blinded external evalu ation of case abstracts did not disclose any significant shift in the investigators' assessments. The intervention may have had an non-speci fic effect on avoidable DRHs.