Patient Safety & Quality Improvement USMLE Step 1 Practice Question
A 68-year-old male with a history of hypertension and atrial fibrillation presents to the emergency department with palpitations and dizziness. Vital signs show heart rate 118 bpm, blood pressure 142/88 mmHg, respiratory rate 20/min, temperature 37.2°C, and SpO2 98% on room air. Laboratory studies reveal serum potassium 5.8 mEq/L and an elevated digoxin level. Review of his medication reconciliation reveals he has been prescribed digoxin by three different providers without awareness of overlapping prescriptions, placing him at significant risk for toxicity. The hospital's new medication reconciliation protocol identified this error before clinical deterioration occurred. No patient harm resulted from this event. The quality improvement team is measuring the effectiveness of their intervention by tracking these identified medication errors. Which type of measurement is the hospital performing?
Answer choices
- ASentinel event investigation
- BNear-miss or potential adverse event detectionCorrect answer
- CRoot cause analysis of an adverse drug event
- DMorbidity and mortality conference review
- EProspective cohort analysis of medication adherence
- FIncidence density calculation of preventable hospitalizations
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