A prognostic model called the Medicines Optimisation Assessment Tool (MOAT) has recently been developed in the United Kingdom to identify patients with moderate to severe risk of preventable medication-related problems (MRPs) who require the most input from clinical pharmacists during hospitalisation. The MOAT is a result of a cohort study of 1,503 patients in adult medical wards at two UK hospitals, utilising data on MRPs and possible risk factors like comorbidities and high-risk medicine usage. The relationship between risk factors and moderate to severe preventable MRPs was found through multivariable logistic regression modelling and simplified into an electronic scoring system. Moderate or severe preventable MRPs were observed in 610 patients (40.6%), 11 risk factors were identified and the MOAT had a concordance index of 0.66. It can therefore be concluded that this tool has potential to assign patients to preventable MRP risk groups and aid in clinical decision making, however the predictive accuracy of the MOAT in new cohorts should be assessed through external validation. The full details of this study can be viewed here.
Contributed by Australian Medication Safety Services Associate – Isabella Singh