Summaries of Independent Scientist (K) Awards

Basco, William T., Jr.

Institution: Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC)
Grant Title: Prescribing Errors in Ambulatory Pediatric Care
Grant Number:  K08 HS15679
Duration: 4 years (2006-2010)
Total Award: $509,800

Project Description: This grant has been completed. The research evaluated the frequencies, types, and patterns of ambulatory medication prescribing errors in children. There were four aims:

1. Validation of a method for imputing weights for determining overdose and underdose for pediatric medications.
2. Define and determine the frequency of ambulatory pediatric prescribing errors.
3. Identify provider and patient characteristics associated with pediatric prescribing errors.
4. Evaluate whether electronic medical records that include a prescribing module reduce the rate of pediatric prescribing errors among trainees.

Career Goals:Dr. Basco is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Associate Faculty in the College of Graduate Studies at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, SC. He received his MD from Louisiana State University and did his residency in Pediatrics at the Children's Hospital at MUSC. This was followed by a fellowship in General Pediatric Academic Development at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. He will complete the Master of Science in Clinical Research Program during his K training. Dr. Basco would like to position himself to be an independent researcher helping to transform U.S. medical education by defining educational success using patient-centered outcomes.

Progress to Date: Among the LASA drug pairs evaluated, there were 1,420,091 prescriptions to 173,005 subjects. There were 395 screening alerts generated, representing a screening alert frequency of 0.28 screening alerts per 1,000 prescriptions. Dr. Basco identified 43 true LASA errors. In the dataset, the overall LASA error rate was estimated to be approximately 0.00003% or 0.03 LASA errors per 1,000 prescriptions. Dosing errors for narcotic-containing preparations occurred in 5% of all prescriptions to children 0-3 years old.

Highlights and Specific Accomplishments:

• Has served as Director of the children's Hospital MUSC Hospitalist Program.
• Was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Generalist Physician Faculty Scholar.
• Editor, MedScape Pediatrics Journal Scan, a monthly review of published articles.

K-Generated Publications:

Basco WT Jr, Hletko PJ, West L, Darden PM. Determining the proportion of children too heavy for age appropriate car seats in a practice-based research network. Clinical Pediatrics January 2009; 48:37-43.

Teufel RJ, Basco WT Jr, Simpson KN. Cost-effectiveness of an inpatient influenza immunization assessment and delivery program for pediatric asthmatics. Journal of Hospital Medicine April 2008; 3(2):134-41.

Hletko PJ, Basco WT Jr. Making the most of data collection: Lessons from a practice-based research network. Journal of the South Carolina Medical Association August 2008; 104:186-87.

Basco WT, Ebeling M, Hulsey TC, Simpson K. Using pharmacy data to screen for look-alike, sound-alike substitution errors in pediatric prescriptions. Academic Pediatrics 2010. 10:233-37.

Roberts JR, Kennedy SA, Darden PM, Basco WT Jr. Prevalence of overweight in children: Comparing children from the South Carolina pediatric practice research network to a national sample. Clinical Pediatrics 2010. 49(8):750-55.

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