Summaries of Independent Scientist (K) Awards

Kennedy, Amanda

Institution: University of Vermont
Grant Title: Outpatient Prescription Errors
Grant Number:  K08 HS013891
Duration: 5 years (2003-2008)
Total Award: $709,000

Project Description: The goal of this project is to improve outpatient safety.  This research plan promotes the understanding of the causes of outpatient prescription errors.  The project has 3 main objectives: 

1. To develop and evaluate a novel reporting system in physicians' offices for detecting prescription errors.
2. To develop and evaluate a novel improvement system in community pharmacies to increase prescription error reporting by pharmacists.
3. To analyze reports of outpatient prescription errors and understand their root causes.

Career Goals: Dr. Kennedy is a clinical pharmacist with a desire to become an independent investigator in the field of patient safety.  She would like to design and execute solid study designs, conduct analyses, and nationally and locally communicate the results. The candidate plans to become an experienced health services researcher in outcomes research, technology assessment, and human factors research.

Progress to Date: Dr. Kennedy is a licensed Pharmacist in the state of Vermont.  She has extensive academic training in the responsible conduct of research, patient safety, statistics, root cause analysis, database management, communication, and epidemiology.  The data collection for Aim has been completed as have the focus groups for Aim 2.  The grantee created a revised survey regarding patient safety organizations and is piloting the survey.

Future Plans: Dr. Kennedy will analyze the reports of prescription errors reported by prescribers and generate a list of possible causes of outpatient errors.

Highlights and Specific Accomplishments:

• Professional Associations:
  • American Diabetes Association.
  • Vermont/American Societies of Health-System Pharmacists.
  • American College of Clinical Pharmacy.
  • Ambulatory Care Practice and Research Network.
• Completed Human Participant Protections Education for Research Teams, National Institutes of Health (NIH) online course.
• Submitted R03 application for research complementary to the K08.
• Poster presented at the Society for General Internal Medicine's Annual Meeting.
• Teaching wise prescribing to Primary Care providers through an Academic Detailing program, sponsored by the University of Vermont's Area Health Education Centers and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont and the Vermont Health Plan.

K-Generated Publications:

Kennedy AG, Littenberg B.  A dictation system for reporting prescription errors in community pharmacies.  International Journal of Pharmacy Practice 2004. 12:13-19.

Kennedy AG, MacLean CD, Littenberg B, et al. The challenge of achieving national cholesterol goals in patients with diabetes. Diabetes Care 2005. (28)5:1029-34.

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