Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Are We Making Smart Pumps Smarter?, Brittany Schaefer

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Background: Medication errors comprise a significant proportion of medical errors, and are abundant, costly, and associated with causing harm to patients via adverse drug events. The most serious medication errors often involve IV medications. Smart pumps were developed to improve patient safety by reducing medication errors. While some studies have found that smart pumps do not decrease medication errors, most have found they are effective to some degree. It is believed that routinely analyzing data on smart pump alerts, making corresponding adjustments in the drug libraries, and analyzing those adjustments can reduce alarm fatigue, which may then decrease medication errors …

Implications Of Student Debt On Financial Wellness: Can Universities Help?, Anne Leighty

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Introduction. Exploring whether or not students feel prepared financially for graduation is a useful exercise for universities as the results can provide ways to better support their students as they move into life after graduation. Financial wellness plays a role in a person’s overall wellness and happiness. This could be of particular concern for pharmacy students due to increasing cost of education and typically, a minimum of six years of education is required. If universities implemented better ways to educate their students on student loans and financial well-being, new graduates could have decreased financial anxiety, as well as improved overall …

Impact Of Rapid Meca Polymerase Chain Reaction Rapid Diagnostic Testing For Staphylococcus Aureus In A Pediatric Setting, Emily Drwiega

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Rapid molecular technology can detect the mecA resistance gene in Staphylococcus aureus (SA), predicting methicillin susceptibility in under one hour. In combination with antimicrobial stewardship program interventions in adults with SA bacteremia, rapid mecA testing decreases time to targeted therapy. This intervention has not yet been shown effective in pediatric patients or in the absence of real-time stewardship interventions. The objective of this study was to determine if time to optimal therapy decreased following implementation of GeneXpert rapid diagnostic testing (RDT) in a pediatric institution without a formal antimicrobial stewardship protocol for response. The primary outcome was time to optimal …

Evaluation Of Medication Risks For Falls On An Inpatient Medical/Surgical Unit, Joseph Zegar

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Purpose: Patient falls during hospitalization can delay discharge and decrease quality of life. Medications are one factor that can impact fall risk. This study examines patients who fell while admitted to a cardiac surgery unit to identify which high-risk medications are most prevalent to promote patient safety.

Methods: This was a retrospective case control study. Adult patients over the age of 18 were included. Exclusion criteria included pediatric patients and those with an intentional fall event. A total of 39 falls and 78 controls were analyzed in the study. The primary outcome was a fall event during hospitalization. Other variables …