Each year in the United States, the unsafe use of medications leads to over 700,000 emergency room visits, according to the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System. But a group of UTA researchers hopes to dramatically reduce that number through novel interventions, especially among patients 65 and older.
The interventions developed will be tested and evaluated in simulated and actual primary care settings.
The University is leading the Partnership in Resilience for Medication Safety Learning Lab, a consortium funded by a $2.5 million grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Other members include Johns Hopkins University, JPS Health Network, and the University of North Texas Health Science Center.
“The whole focus is on medication safety through a partnership approach,” says Professor and patient safety specialist Yan Xiao, who oversees the lab. “The interventions developed will be tested and evaluated in simulated and actual primary care settings.”
Co-principal investigators are nursing Associate Professors Kathryn Daniel and Jing Wang, business Professor Kay-Yut Chen, and engineering Assistant Professor Yuan Zhou.
