Anticoagulants help prevent blood clots in people with congenital heart defects but, taken too close to a surgical procedure, they can increase the risk of excessive bleeding. MAPPP helps physicians decide if a patient needs to be taken off warfarin, or another oral anticoagulant, and when.
Anne Myrka, director of the New York State Drug Safety Initiative at Atlantic Quality Innovation Network, the QIN-QIO serving New York, South Carolina and the District of Columbia, discussed the app in the June issue of QIO News.
“From our past experience, we knew the MAPPP guide would help prevent medication errors and adverse drug and procedure-related events in patients during the vulnerable period of time before, during and after invasive medical procedures,” Ms. Myrka said. “The big question was how to expand our reach. The MAPPP mobile app allows us to do that. It’s easy to use and accessible, whenever — and wherever — physicians or other clinicians need it.”
Since the MAPPP app launched in March, it has been downloaded nearly 400 times.
More articles on medication errors:
Medical errors are No. 3 cause of death in the US, study unveils
FDA seeks to reduce medication errors with new guidelines for drug design
CPOE systems prevent some medication errors, but miss nearly 40%
