Professor of Pharmacy Discipline of Pharmacy, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia, Australia
Background: Medication safety is a fundamental part of quality use of medicines. Multiple tools exist for assessing medication safety processes in the hospital setting but few exist for use in nursing homes. The Medication Safety Self-Assessment for long term care (MSSA-LTC) is routinely used to assess medication safety processes in Canadian nursing homes, yet the validity of this tool for use outside Canada is unknown.
Objectives: To determine the validity of the Medication Safety Self-Assessment for long term care for assessing medication safety processes in Australian nursing homes.
Methods: A modified 2-round RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Method was used to assess the validity of 133 criteria of MSSA-LTC. The expert panel consisted of 9 registered nurses and pharmacists with expertise in medication management in the nursing home setting. The panel rated each criterion separately for two attributes: importance for medication safety and applicability to the Australian context. For validity, criteria needed to be considered both important for medication safety and applicable to the Australian context.
Results: 108 of the 133 criteria were considered valid for use in the Australian nursing homes. Of those not considered valid, one criterion (using barcoding to identify residents) was not considered important for medication safety, and 25 criteria were not considered applicable to the Australian setting.
Conclusions: In general, the MSSA-LTC appears valid for assessing medication safety in Australian nursing homes. Future work to examine the feasibility and impact of the tool in improving medication safety processes and medication safety in the Australian context is needed.
