Online learning is supporting the roll-out of a new hospital drug chart in Wales.
A fifth of clinical negligence litigation stems from hospital medication errors, and NHS hospitals and trusts in Wales are committed to protecting the safety of patients by reducing such mistakes.
The In-Patient Medication Administration e-Learning Package, developed by Learning Industries (a Spinout company set up by Cardiff University to reward researchers and developers), will be used by doctors, pharmacists and nurses involved in the prescription, supply and administration of medicines within Welsh hospitals.
It introduces the chart’s layout and illustrates how to complete the forms. It also introduces new prescription writing standards, and describes how they should be applied.
“E-learning offers a number of advantages in this context,” said Dave Roberts, chief pharmacist at Cardiff & Vale NHS Trust, who commissioned the package on behalf of the All Wales Chief Pharmacists Group.
“Hospital staff are able to access the package in a manner that fits around their duties and workload, and the delivery of the package across Wales provides a consistent and repeatable level of training in this critical area.
“As part of the wider package of reforms, we are confident that this will help to reduce medication errors across Wales,” he added.
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The e-learning module has been delivered to every NHS Trust in Wales to support the immediate roll-out of the new drug chart. It will also be used in clinical induction programmes, and has been incorporated into final year undergraduate teaching programmes at Wales College of Medicine, as part of the pre-clinical training. Future plans will see user tracking and recorded assessment added to the module, and Learning Industries’ e-learning administration system will be used to manage the delivery of the e-learning package within individual trusts.
