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Section 3
Medication Error in Mental Health: Implications for Primary Care

Question 3 | Test | Table of Contents

The adverse consequences of error within healthcare are becoming increasingly apparent and improving patient safety is a key policy within health services across the world.[1–3] Medication errors, one of the most frequent clinical errors, are estimated to cause 7000 deaths every year in the USA and occur in between 2% and 15% of UK hospital admissions[4–6] Medication errors are associated with significant costs and morbidity (1–2% of hospital inpatients are harmed by a medication error).[3,7,8] Medication is one of the main treatments for people with mental health problems and good quality primary care is increasingly vital in the health care of people with severe mental illness (SMI).[9–11]

In the USA over half and in the UK between 30% and 50% of people with a mental health problem only receive treatment from primary care services.[12,13] The continuity of care and the physical health care available within primary care are particularly important.[14]

Service Organizational Issues
            Modern community based mental health services are fragmented, particularly following the establishment of specialist teams for home treatment, assertive outreach and early intervention. [22] This has created numerous interfaces which patients frequently cross between primary and secondary care and different parts of the services. Primary clinicians may not be aware of medication supplied by secondary care colleagues, resulting in unintended drug interaction.[23] 

Transitional care, when patients cross organizational boundaries, is associated with medication reconciliation errors.[24] Communication difficulties, complex medicine regimens, unclear roles and responsibilities, patient factors and the involvement of multiple professionals may increase the risk of medicine reconciliation errors.[25]

            Primary care clinicians should be aware that transition across the primary–secondary care interface may be particularly associated with risk as various organizations (inpatient units, hospital pharmacy, general practice, community pharmacy and community mental health teams) are potentially involved. A study within a mental health trust found that discrepancies in the medication record in the medical notes occurred in 69% of discharges and 43% of admissions, and of these 24% and 18%, respectively were judged to be potentially harmful.[23] Research on medicine reconciliation is a priority, and should focus on potentially high-risk groups, such as mental health patients.[25,26]

Training Issues
            A lack of training and familiarity with certain classes of medicines may increase the risk of errors.[19,20,35] However, whilst there is some evidence that the use of psychotropics within primary care is associated with an increased risk of error, robust data is currently lacking.[18,20] The possible increased risk associated with physical medicines when used within mental health organizations may be due to a lack of training and an important role for primary care is supporting the management of such physical medicines.[19,35]

Front-linemental health staff linking with primary care, including social workers, occupational therapists and support workers, may lack formal training in medicines management. Staff with limited knowledge could fail to act, or offer inappropriate advice; a sore throat due to clozapine induced neutropenia might not be viewed as significant and only symptomatic treatment recommended. The increasing use of non-medical prescribers, such as psychologists, may also increase the risk of medication errors, although currently evidence of this is lacking. [20]

Cognitive Impairment
Patients intercept nearly a quarter of errors, but both medication and mental illness impair cognition and decision-making facilities and people with mental health problems maybe less articulate and less likely to question a prescription, a change in medicine, whether monitoring is needed, or identify potential adverse events or a potential error. [18, 36, 37] Alternatively, if the patient does not identify an error this view may ignored due to capacity concerns. [38]

This potential lack of advocacy may mean that medication is not regularly reviewed; the recent UK all-party parliamentary report on dementia identified the lack of regular reviews of the medication regimens of people with dementia. [39] Primary care clinicians need to be aware that someone with mental health problems may not identify a medication error, placing additional responsibilities on clinicians and carers. [18]

Role of Carers
            Carers carry out up to ten activities in relation to medicines and have a key role in identifying potential medication errors. [40, 41] This role places significant strain on carers and the greater the number of activities the worse the social functioning and the mental health of the carer. [41] Carers may also believe that patients with impaired cognition are less likely to critically observe their actions and take less care, a so-called "Hawthorne Effect", increasing the risk of medication errors. [42]
            Giving the wrong medicine to the wrong patient may be a particular risk with agency staff working in residential care facilities, who are unfamiliar with the patients. [30] Carers may lack access to appropriate professional advice in relation to medication management and frequently report problems with medication management activities related to making judgments as to whether treatment is appropriate and managing side effects. [40, 43]

Primary care healthcare professionals can improve safety by providing advice, ensuring that carers have sufficient knowledge about the medication and identifying if carers have any difficulty in understanding the instructions for administering medication. [43]

Role of Trust
            Trust has a central role in health care particularly in diseases characterized by uncertainty and vulnerability, such as mental health disorders. [44] Trust between service users and healthcare professionals is vital in supporting patient safety, reducing errors and improving adherence to psychotropic medication. [45-49] Rates of adherence may be three times lower where there are very low levels of trust, with potentially severe societal consequences in terms of serious untoward incidents, such as suicide and homicide, which regularly attract media attention. [46, 50]

            Clinicians may not supply complete information about adverse events, due to fears about the potential impact on adherence. [38] Patients who are not warned about a particular adverse event may not know how to manage it, or that urgent treatment is required. [18, 53] Sectioning, when treatment is legally enforced, may impact on patient safety due to erosion of trust. [38] Clinicians may be less likely to believe safety concerns expressed by a sectioned patient, potentially resulting in a medication error; however, empirical evidence is currently lacking. [38]

Conclusion
            People with mental health problems may be at greater risk of a medication error however evidence is currently lacking. Primary care has an increasingly key role in improving medication safety. The complexity of mental healthcare services and training issues may increase the risk of errors, with the management of physical medicines an area of particular risk.

Patients may be cognitively impaired and fail to identify an error, placing greater safety burdens on clinicians. The role of carers in patient safety also requires consideration. The mistrust prevalent in mental healthcare services may impair information exchange, increasing the risk of errors.

--Maidment, I. D., & Parmentier, H. (2009). Medication error in mental health: implications for primary care. Mental Health In Family Medicine, 6(4), 203-207.

Personal Reflection Exercise #3
The preceding section contained information about medication error in primary care.  Write one case study example regarding how you might use the content of this section in your practice.
Reviewed 2023

Update
Medication Dispensing Errors and Prevention

Tariq, R. A., Vashisht, R., Sinha, A., & Scherbak, Y. (2023). Medication Dispensing Errors and Prevention. In StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing.


Peer-Reviewed Journal Article References:
Gallimore, C. E., Sokhal, D., Zeidler Schreiter, E., & Margolis, A. R. (2016). Pharmacist medication reviews to improve safety monitoring in primary care patients. Families, Systems, & Health, 34(2), 104–113.

McKay, D., & Jensen-Doss, A. (2021). Harmful treatments in psychotherapy. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 28(1), 2-4.

Shahidullah, J. D., Hostutler, C. A., & Forman, S. G. (2019). Ethical considerations in medication-related roles for pediatric primary care psychologists. Clinical Practice in Pediatric Psychology, 7(4), 405–416.

Shahidullah, J. D., Hostutler, C. A., & Stancin, T. (2018). Collaborative medication-related roles for pediatric primary care psychologists. Clinical Practice in Pediatric Psychology, 6(1), 61–72.

QUESTION 3
What is Transitional Care? To select and enter your answer go to Test.

Test
Section 4
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Excerpt of Bibliography mentioned above
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