Application effect of case management nursing based on patient safety in patients with prostate cancer

BACKGROUND Globally,prostate cancer has become a major threat to men's health,with an increasing incidence and causes serious effects on the quality and length of life of patients.Despite the rapid development of medical technology,which provides treatments,including surgery,radiotherapy,and endocrine therapy,the treatment of patients with prostate cancer,especially with endocrine therapy,has become a major challenge in clinical treatment owing to the lengthy course of treatment,side effects of drugs,and impact of the disease on the psychological and physiological functioning of the patient,producing poor treatment adherence and a decline in quality of life.After the nursing intervention,the anxiety and depression scores of the observation group were significantly lower than those of the control group(P<0.05).The quality of life score,sexual function,and hormone function were significantly higher than those in the control group(P<0.05).CONCLUSION Case management guidance based on patient safety effectively reduced anxiety and depression in patients undergoing endocrine therapy for prostate cancer and improved their quality of life,treatment compliance,and satisfaction.

Enhancing Patient Safety in the Operating Room: A Comprehensive Guide from a Nurse’s Perspective

Ensuring patient safety within the operating room is a paramount concern in contemporary healthcare, and this guide aims to provide an in-depth exploration of this crucial aspect from the perspective of nurses. Nurses play a pivotal role in supporting surgeons and maintaining a safe environment for patients undergoing various medical procedures.

Patient Safety in the Use of Mechanical Restraints: Regulatory Compliance among Hospitals in the City of Buenos Aires and Proposal for Its Improvement

Introduction: Mechanical or physical restraint is an exceptional therapeutic resource to immobilize a subject and thus guarantee the safety of the patient and/or third parties in the face of high-risk behaviors, but it entails multiple crossings (bioethical, philosophical, medical, psychological, legal). Framed in the so-called “safety culture” developed by the WHO, based on the Protocol for its implementation of the CABA and attentive to its frequent use in CABA by different hospital services (medical clinic, geriatrics, intensive care and medical guards) we consider it necessary its study in terms of compliance with the risks it entails and its management. Objectives: Identify regulatory compliance with the GCABA Mechanical restraint (MR) Protocol from a patient safety perspective, as well as describe the clinical and medicolegal aspects, and propose the usefulness of a tool for its management and control. Methodology: Observational, descriptive, transversal and prospective work through the analysis of Clinical Records with indication of MR using a rubric-type form. 177 cases were analyzed between September-November 2023 from three hospitals of the Government of the City of Buenos Aires, statistical parameters were applied and graphs were made. Results: Only 12.99% complied with the Protocol. In the mental health specialized hospital compliance was almost 5 times greater than in the general one, and in the emergency services compliance was 12 times greater than in Inpatient services. We found that the start or end time of MR was not recorded and only 43% described the causes/justifications for the indication (mostly in Emergency and Specialized hospitals), with the MR average time being shorter in Emergency. Conclusions: Only 1.3 out of 10 patients reliably completed the Protocol and it was mostly in the mental health specialized hospital and the emergency services. The results show non-compliance behavior in the application and management of the risk that the use of mechanical restraints entails, being causes for criminal litigation. We consider that the checklists are useful to complete the Protocol and thus provide security to patients and professionals.

Role of nurses in improving patient safety: Evidence from surgical complications in 21 countries

Objectives: To analyze the role of nurse staffing in improving patient safety due to reducing surgical complications in member countries of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).Methods: The number of practicing nurses' density per 1000 population and five surgical complications indicators including foreign body left in during procedure (FBL),postoperative pulmonary embolism (PPE) and deep vein thrombosis (DVT) after hip and knee replacement,postoperative sepsis after abdominal surgery (PSA) and postoperative wound dehiscence (PWD) were collected in crude rates per 100,000 hospital discharges for age group of 15 years old and over within 30 days after surgery based on surgical admission-related and all admission-related methods.The observations of 21 OECD countries were collected from OECD Health Statistics during 2010-2015 period.The statistical technique of panel data analysis including unit root test,co-integration test and dynamic long-run analysis were used to estimate the possible relationship between our panel series.Results: There were significant relationships from nurse-staffing level to reducing FBL,PPE,DVT,PSA and PWD with long-run magnitudes of-2.91,-1.30,-1.69,-2.81 and-1.12 based on surgical admission method as well as-6.12,-14.57,-7.29,-1.41 and-0.88 based on all admission method,respectively.Conclusions: A higher proportion of nurses is associated with higher patient safety resulting from lower surgical complications and adverse clinical outcomes in OECD countries.Hence,we alert policy makers about the risk of underestimating the impact of nurses on improving patient safety as well as the quality of health care services in OECD countries.

Nursing-related Patient Safety Events in Hospitals

To explore the method of identifying nursing-related patient safety events, types, contributing factors and evaluate consequences of these events in hospitals of China, incident report program was established and implemented in 15 patient units in two teaching hospitals of China to get the relevant information. Among 2935 hospitalized patients, 141 nursing-related patient safety events were reported by nurses. Theses events were categorized into 15 types. Various factors contributed to the events and the consequence varied from no harm to patient death. Most of the events were pre- ventable. It is concluded that incident reporting can provide more information about patient safety, and establishment of a program of voluntary incident reporting in hospitals of China is not only urgent but also feasible.

Thinking in three's: Changing surgical patient safety practices in the complex modern operating room

The three surgical patient safety events, wrong site surgery, retained surgical items (RSI) and surgical fires are rare occurrences and thus their effects on the complex modern operating room (OR) are difficult to study. The likelihood of occurrence and the magnitude of risk for each of these surgical safety events are undefined. Many providers may never have a personal experience with one of these events and training and education on these topics are sparse. These circumstances lead to faulty thinking that a provider won't ever have an event or if one does occur the provider will intuitively know what to do. Surgeons are not preoccupied with failure and tend to usually consider good outcomes, which leads them to ignore or diminish the importance of implementing and following simple safety practices. These circumstances contribute to the persistent low level occurrence of these three events and to the difficulty in generating sufficient interest to resource solutions. Individual facilities rarely have the time or talent to understand these events and develop lasting solutions. More often than not, even the most well meaning internal review results in a new line to a policy and some rigorous enforcement mandate. This approach routinely fails and is another reason why these problems are so persistent. Vigilance actions alone havebeen unsuccessful so hospitals now have to take a systematic approach to implementing safer processes and providing the resources for surgeons and other stake-holders to optimize the OR environment. This article discusses standardized processes of care for mitigation of injury or outright prevention of wrong site surgery, RSI and surgical fires in an action-oriented framework illustrating the strategic elements important in each event and focusing on the responsibilities for each of the three major OR agents-anesthesiologists, surgeons and nurses. A Surgical Patient Safety Checklist is discussed that incorporates the necessary elements to bring these team members together and influence the emergence of a safer OR.

Patient safety culture and handoff evaluation of nurses in small and medium-sized hospitals

Objectives:This study was conducted to investigate the current status of handoffs,perception of patient safety culture,and degrees of handoff evaluation in small and medium-sized hospitals and identified factors that make a difference in handoff evaluation.Methods:This is a descriptive study.425 nurses who work at small and medium-sized hospitals in South Korea were included in our study.They completed a set of self-reporting questionnaires that evaluated demographic data,handoff-related characteristics,perception of patient safety culture,and handoff evaluation.Results:Results showed that the overall score of awareness of a patient safety culture was 3.65±0.45,the level was moderate.The score of handoff evaluation was 5.24±0.85.Most nurses experienced errors in handoff and most nurses had no guidelines and checklist in the ward.Handoff evaluation differed significantly according to the level of education,work patterns,duration of hospital employment,handoff method,degree of satisfaction with the current handoff method,errors occurring at the time of handoff,handoff guidelines,and appropriateness of handoff education time(P<0.05).Conclusion:For handoff improvement,guidelines and standards should be established.It is necessary to develop a structured handoff education system.And formal handoff education should be implemented to spread knowledge uniformly.

Hospital management priorities and key factors affecting overall perception of patient safety: a cross-sectional study

Objective:Evaluating a staff’s perception of safety culture is a critical factor in hospital management,and the knowledge of value and efficiency in hospitals is still inadequate.This study aimed to investigate the perceptions of safety culture among medical staffs and determine priorities for clear and better management.Methods:A cross-sectional survey of 595 medical staff members was conducted at 2 ter tiary hospitals in Western China using a hospital survey on patient safety culture(HSOPSC)and its value and efficiency in the hospital.Results:The dimensions with a disadvantaged positive response were nonpunitive response to error(44.6%)and staffing(42.0%).Five dimensions can explain 37.7%of the variation in the overall perception of patient safety,and handoffs and transitions are the most important dimensions(standardized coefficients 0.295).Conclusions:Hospital managers should pay more attention to nonpunitive management and staffing.Handoffs and transitions are the most important areas of potential improvement in patient safety in hospitals.

Promoting Clinician Well-Being and Patient Safety Using Human Factors Science: Reducing Unnecessary Occupational Stress

Our healthcare delivery system has accumulated complexity of payment, regulation systems, expectations and requirements. Often these are not designed to align with clinical thinking process flow of patient care. As a result, clinicians are utilizing enormous mental (cognitive) resource to comply with these complexities, over and above the baseline mental effort required to give good care to the patient. Recent studies suggest a significant number of physicians, advanced practice providers and nurses no longer want to stay in healthcare due to difficult work expectations and conditions that have become unreasonable. Technology has benefitted healthcare delivery, but also is a conduit of many expectations that have been grafted upon clinician workloads, exceeding the resources provided to accomplish them. Cognitive load is a measure of mental effort and is divided into Intrinsic, Germane and Extraneous Cognitive Load. Extraneous Cognitive Load (ECL) is what is not necessary and can be removed by better design. High cognitive load is associated with increased risk of both medical error and clinician burnout. Chronic high level occupational stress occurs from dealing with this job/resource imbalance and is showing serious personal health impact upon clinicians and the quality of the work they can provide for patients. Since organizational systems have become more complex, leadership methods, clinician wellbeing and patient safety efforts need to adjust to adapt and succeed. Safety efforts have tended to predominantly follow methods of a few decades ago with predominant focus upon how things go wrong (Safety I) but are now being encouraged to include more of the study of how things go right (Safety II). Human Factors/Ergonomics (HFE) science has been used in many industries to preserve worker wellbeing and improve system performance. Patient safety is a product of good system performance. HFE science helps inform mechanisms behind Safety I and II approach. HFE concepts augment existing burnout and safety interventions by providing a conceptual roadmap to follow that can inform how to improve the multiple human/technology, human/system, and human/work environment interfaces that comprise healthcare delivery. Healthcare leaders, by their influence over culture, resource allocation, and implementation of requirements and workflows are uniquely poised to be effective mitigators of the conditions leading to clinician burnout and latent medical error. Basic knowledge of HFE science is a strategic advantage to leaders and individuals tasked with achieving quality of care, controlling costs, and improving the experiences of receiving and providing care.

Health care staffs’ perception of patient safety culture in hospital settings and factors of importance for this

Many hospital patients are affected by adverse events. Managers are important when improving safety. The perception of patient safety culture varies among health care staff. Health care staff (n = 1023) working in medical, surgical or mixed medical-surgical health care divisions answered the 51 items (14 dimensions) Swedish Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (S-HSOPSC). Respondents with a managerial function scored higher than non-managers for 11 of 14 dimensions, indicating patient safety culture strengths for a majority of dimensions. Enrolled nurses and staff with experience > 10 years also scored high for several dimensions. The 12 dimensions and sample characteristics explained 49% and 26% of the variance for the outcome dimensions Overall Perceptions of Safety and Frequency of Incident Reporting, respectively. RNs, ENs and physicians have different views on patient safety culture. Hospital Management Support and Organisational Learning is some important factors influencing patient safety culture. Bridging the gap in health care staff’s perceptions of safety in order to improve patient safety is of utmost importance. Managers have the responsibility to foster patient safety culture at their workplace and can thus benefit from results when improving safety for patients.

Patient Safety,Adverse Healthcare Events and Near-Misses in Obstetric Care—A Systematic Literature Review

Systematic development of a patient safety culture is necessary because lack of quality care leads to human suffering. The aim of this review was to identify evidence of obstetric adverse events (AEs) and near-misses in the context of patient safety. We conducted a search of the published literature from Europe, Australia and the USA in the following databases: Cinahl, Cochrane, Maternity and Infant Care, Ovid, Pro-quest and PubMed, guided by PRISMA procedures. A total of 427 studies were screened, 15 full papers retrieved and nine studies included in the final thematic analysis. The selected papers address a broad spectrum of adverse patient safety events in obstetric care. The themes that emerged were: type of AEs, near-misses and their consequences, strategies to support and improve Patient Safety (PS) and domains related to the WHO Patient Safety competence outcomes. The findings of the first theme were grouped into the following categories: healthcare professionals’ perspectives on ethical conflicts, attributing blame and responsibility, and patients’ perspectives on lack of trust and involvement, as well as medication errors. The second theme, strategies to support interventions to improve PS, was based on two sub-themes: communicating effectively and gaining competence by learning from adverse events, while the third theme was domains related to the WHO Patient Safety competence outcomes. In conclusion, few studies have examined strategies for managing AEs despite the existence of programmes that target the implementation of changes, such as improved teamwork training. In addition to exploring strategies to make safety a priority for patients and healthcare professionals, it is of the utmost importance to improve communication with patients and between professionals in order to maintain and enhance safety. Efforts by organizations and individuals to continuously develop knowledge about the risk of AEs and the use of best practice guidelines are also essential.

Swedish Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture— Psychometric properties and health care staff’s perception

This study examined the psychometric properties of the Swedish and the original version of the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture within a Swedish hospital setting and described health care staff’s perceptions of patient safety culture. A web-survey was used to obtain data from registered nurses, enrolled nurses and physicians (N = 1023). Psychometric properties were tested using Confirmatory Factor Analysis and internal consistency using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Root mean square error of approximation and other fit indices indicated psychoFmetric properties for both versions to be acceptable. Internal consistency for the dimensions varied between 0.60 and 0.87. Staff scored the dimension “Teamwork Within Units” highest and the dimension “Hospital Management Support” the lowest. The safety was graded as very good or excellent by 58.9% of the respondents and one third had reported more than one event in the past 12 months. The questionnaire is considered to be useful for measuring patient safety culture in Swedish hospital settings. Managers have a great responsibility to work with improving patient safety culture.

Risk Factors for Anesthesia-Related Airway Patient Safety Incidents:A Single-Center Retrospective Case-Control Analysis from 2009 to 2022

Objective Airway-related patient safety incident(PSI)has always been the top concern of anesthesiologists because this type of incidents could severely threaten patient safety if not treated immediately and properly.This study intends to reveal the composition,prognosis,and to identify risk factors for airway related incidents reported by anesthesiologists.Methods All airway related PSIs reported by anesthesiologists in a Chinese academic hospital between September 2009 and May 2022 were collected from the PSI reporting system.Patients with airway incidents reported were matched 1:1 with controls based on sex and type of surgery.Univariable and multivariable analysis were performed to find risk factors associated with airway incident occurrence,and to evaluate influence of airway PSIs on patient prognosis.Results Among 1,038 PSIs voluntarily reported by anesthesiologists during the study period,281 cases(27.1%)were airway-related incidents,with an overall reporting incidence of 4.74 per 10,000 among 592,884 anesthesia care episodes.Only ASA physical status was found to be significant independent predictor of these airway PSIs(P=0.020).Patients with airway PSIs reported had longer extubation time(0.72±1.56 d vs.0.16±0.77 d,95%CI:0.29 to 0.82,P<0.001),longer ICU length of stay(LOS)(1.63±5.71 d vs.0.19±0.84 d,95%CI:0.57 to 2.32,P=0.001),longer post operative LOS(10.56±13.09 d vs.7.59±10.76 d,95%CI:0.41 to 5.53,P=0.023),and longer total in-hospital LOS(14.99±15.18 d vs.11.62±11.88 d,95%CI:0.46 to 6.27,P=0.024).Conclusions This single-center retrospective case-control study describes the composition of airway-related PSIs reported by anesthesiologists within thirteen years.Airway incidents might influence patient prognosis by elongating extubation time and LOS.Airway PSI data were worth analyzing to improve patient safety.

Knowledge Representation in Patient Safety Reporting: An Ontological Approach

Purpose： The current development of patient safety reporting systems is criticized for loss of information and low data quality due to the lack of a uniformed domain knowledge base and text processing functionality. To improve patient safety reporting, the present paper suggests an ontological representation of patient safety knowledge. Design/methodology/approach： We propose a framework for constructing an ontological knowledge base of patient safety. The present paper describes our design, implementation,and evaluation of the ontology at its initial stage. Findings： We describe the design and initial outcomes of the ontology implementation. The evaluation results demonstrate the clinical validity of the ontology by a self-developed survey measurement. Research limitations： The proposed ontology was developed and evaluated using a small number of information sources. Presently, US data are used, but they are not essential for the ultimate structure of the ontology.Practical implications： The goal of improving patient safety can be aided through investigating patient safety reports and providing actionable knowledge to clinical practitioners.As such, constructing a domain specific ontology for patient safety reports serves as a cornerstone in information collection and text mining methods.Originality/value： The use of ontologies provides abstracted representation of semantic information and enables a wealth of applications in a reporting system. Therefore, constructing such a knowledge base is recognized as a high priority in health care.

The Impact of Medical Profession Type, Gender, and Years of Experience on Thinking Styles: What Are the Implications for Patient Safety?

Background: Healthcare providers were faced daily with many decision-making that impacted patients’ safety. According to dual process theory, there were two types of thinking: Experiential style (ES) and Rational Style (RS). Both thinking styles had an impact on individuals’ decisions making. Therefore, the aim of this study was to find out nurses’ and physicians’ styles of thinking and how this impacted patients’ safety. Design: A cross-sectional study. Methods: Nurses and physicians sample of adults (n = 308), 190 (61.7%) of the sample were nurses and 118 (38.3%) of the sample were physicians. Participants completed a self-report online survey, which included demographic information followed by questionnaires to measure thinking style and a cognitive puzzle to see if the medical error was associated with certain styles of thinking. Results: The main findings were that nurses (M = 2.41, SD = 0.37) had significantly higher scores compared to physicians (M = 2.29, SD = 0.39) in their ES, t(305) = 2.73, p = 0.007;with medium effect size, d = 0.37692. Conclusion: Nurses differed from physicians in ES where nurses had a significantly higher score than physicians which could be positive for patients’ safety as higher ES would report errors compared to lower ES.

Healthcare Risk Management and Patient Safety in Turkish Hospital

Patient safety is an important component of risk management in hospitals. The aim of the study is to measure physician and nurse awareness about four selected patient safety indicators by authors and events reported about these relevant indicators in the hospital. The study uses standardized four patientsafety indicators like ＂needle sticks, cut wounds, dressing allergy, infections indicators＂. Cross section study was conducted through three month period in 2011-2012 based on voluntary response to the questionnaire that intend to measure knowledge about four health indicators. Studypopulations consisted of accessible sample of 146 different specialty physicians and 108 nurses present on duty during survey period. The association between the patient safety indicators and events reported about indicators in questionswere analyzed. Meanpatient safety knowledge questionnaire scores of health staff （nurse and physician） for needle sticks, cut wounds, dressing allergy, infections indicators were 47.13（11.8）, 39.04（14.5）, 38.02（10.5）, 39.72（9.7）, respectively. Significant statistical differences were also found between the frequency of events reported according to department and patient safety indicators （F = 8.34; p 〈 0.05） Measuring patient safety culture via safety indicators is essential in improving patient safety. This matter is perfectly influence the financial management of the hospital.

Evaluation of patient safety culture as perceived by nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic

Objectives:A good patient safety culture(PSC)is linked to a reduced risk of patient problems and minimal undesirable occurrences.This study investigated the PSC levels from nurses'perspectives during the COVID-19 pandemic.Methods:A descriptive cross-sectional design was applied.The Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture(HSOPSC)questionnaire was administered to 315 nurses working at 2 major hospitals in Jeddah,Saudi Arabia.The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics,a t-test,and a one-way ANOVA test.The statistical significance of the correlation was determined at the 0.05 level.Results:PSC was rated as medium overall according to the nurses,with a weighted mean of 2.88–0.76 and a relative weight of 57.57%.In addition,all PSC composites were rated from medium to high,except organizational learning,which was rated low.The correlation between sociodemographic variables as well as PSC levels was investigated using the t-test and one-way ANOVA test.The association is statistically significant when P≤0.05.The findings revealed a statistically significant correlation between nurse nationality(t=-4.399,P=0.000),age(F=7.917,P=0.000),experience in years(F=3.760,P=0.024),and hospital(t=-0.401,P=0.689).Conclusions:The nurses in this study had a medium overall PSC level,and all PSC composites ranged from a medium to a high level,except organizational learning,which had a low level.In addition,the findings showed that there is a significant relationship between PSC levels,nurses'nationalities,experience in years,and the hospital itself.

Patient Safety Efforts in Tanzania: A Rapid Review of Two-Decades Efforts (2002-2022) to Inform Interventions towards Attainment of 2030 Targets

Introduction: The need to address the problem of patient safety has been a focus of World Health Assembly (WHA) meetings of 2002, 2019 and 2021. The 2019 WHA Resolution urged the Member States to take action on patient safety. We aimed to review patient safety efforts in Tanzania from 2002 to 2022 to inform improvement efforts towards the 2030 target. Methods: A rapid literature review was conducted between January 2002 and April 2022. We searched Google, PubMed and PubMed Central in April and May 2022 using the following search terms: PubMed—“patient safety Tanzania”, “blood safety in Tanzania”, “safe surgery Tanzania”, and “healthcare-associated infections Tanzania”;Google—“blood safety in Tanzania”, injection safety in Tanzania”, “infection prevention and control”, “radiation safety in health facilities in Tanzania”;and PubMed Central—“injection safety in Tanzania. Results: The search identified 4160 articles, of which 4053 were removed in initial screening;21 were duplicates, giving 86 relevant articles for full screening. Of the 86 articles, 04 were removed after the full screening, hence remaining with 82 articles. Among the 82 eligible articles, 27 are on IPC, 26 on safe surgery, 12 on blood safety, 07 on radiation safety, 06 on injection safety, and 02 on medication safety. One article was relevant to—blood safety, IPC and injection safety;and one article was relevant to—IPC and injection safety. Conclusion: Most of the eligible literature was on IPC and safe surgery, followed by blood safety, radiation safety, injection safety and medication safety. The literature on IPC has highlighted the need to strengthen efforts to address AMR. Findings from the implementation of the safe surgery 2020 intervention warrants for its scale-up to other zones. There is a need to strengthen hemovigilance and pharmacovigilance functions;and strengthen quality management and assurance systems and regulatory functions to ensure radiation safety.

Fostering Patient Safety: Importance of Nursing Documentation

Background: Nurses are professionally accountable for assessing and documenting patients’ vital signs. Nurses failing to fulfill this responsibility position their patients at risk. This paper presents two real-life cases pertaining to patients’ safety resulting in fatal outcomes, leading to the professional, legal, and ethical liability of nurses as the providers of patient care. Objective: This paper focuses on the role of organizational culture in fostering patient safety specifically in monitoring and documentation of patients’ vital signs and early recognition of warning signs. Methodology: A comprehensive literature search was conducted using various databases, examining the significance of vital signs monitoring and documentation and early warning signs in patient safety. Relevant articles combining quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed. Results: By fostering an environment of honest reporting, healthcare organizations can enhance patient safety and improve the quality of care. This paper offers valuable insights and recommendations for developing effective strategies aligned with organizational policies and protocols. Conclusion: This paper serves as a valuable resource, encouraging healthcare professionals to reflect on their practices and the organizations to assess their contributions to creating a culture of safety. It also highlights the importance of reporting and disclosing adverse events as learning opportunities and outlines the role of ethics, professionalism, legislation, and organizational support in achieving patient safety.

Effect on Patient Safety of Brief Interventions Performed by Pharmacists via Drug Profile Books: VISualization of Treatment Assist by pharmacists (VISTA) Project in Japan

In Japanese pharmacies, Drug Profile Books (DPBs), which are a type of Personal Health Record (PHR), are incorporated in order to prevent duplicate medication and drug interactions in outpatients (patients) through the uniform management of drug administration information. In this study, we tried to clarify the effect on patient safety of brief interventions via DPBs by pharmacists. The study design was a randomized controlled trial on pharmacies as clusters. 65 pharmacies agreed to participate in the study (intervention group (IG): 33;control group (CG): 32). The primary outcomes were: rate of inquiry occurrence, rate of prescription change, and rates of duplicate medications & drug interactions. 56 pharmacies (IG: 29;CG: 27) completed the study. There was a higher tendency for prescription changes in the IG compared to the CG (IG: 0.03%;CG: 0.02%;P = 0.08). In addition, the rate of duplicate medications & drug interactions accounting for the inquiries was significantly higher in the IG than in the CG (IG: 89.2%;CG: 71.9%;P = 0.01). This implied that brief interventions by pharmacists using DPBs had an effect in raising patient safety.