The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has launched an ambitious program to restructure healthcare in the country. The Health Sector Transformation Program under Vision 2030 aims to create a comprehensive, integrated, and effective healthcare system for the entire country. One of the key areas of opportunity for improvement is drug and medication safety.
KSA is navigating a problematic level of pharmaceutical errors—as high as 56 per 100 medication orders. This statistic represents a significant opportunity for improvement in outcomes, the patient experience, and population health results, especially with the application of medical decision support technology.
Eng. Ibrahim Al Ammar, Chief Information and Technology Officer, National Medical Care Company, has overseen a 40% reduction in medication errors with the implementation of EHR-integrated technologies. He envisions a future where evidence-based research powers improvements in medication safety and enhances system-wide clinical decision-making.
Saudi Arabia’s medication safety challenges persist
Saudi Arabia faces an urgent need for improvement in their medication safety. The country has formed the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) and the National Pharmacovigilance and Drug Safety Centre, but is still working to counter issues including poor understanding of medication safety among healthcare providers and a lack of effective reporting methods. The country has deep needs for ongoing education, incorporation of skills in assessment methods, and standardized error reporting protocols. Experts in the field have proposed solutions including:
- Structured competency-based training.
- Promoting a safe reporting culture that encourages transparency and learning from errors.
- Simulation exercises for periodic skill assessments.
Crucially, technology including electronic health records and computerized physician order input systems will be fundamental to improving medication safety.
Technology can play a significant role in realizing a vision of improved medication safety
A scholarly article out of King Abdulaziz University recommends that technologies that enhance medication safety procedures should be leveraged to reduce medical errors as part of the promotion of national patient safety projects. Failure to use this type of technology can contribute to errors such as underdosing and overdosing—a significant threat to vulnerable populations like geriatrics and pediatrics.
These technologies, when integrated with EHRs, can help reduce administration errors. Features like alerts and automatic reminders improve medication management and reduce timing mistakes. Realizing these results requires improved medication management systems that identify trends and patterns. This type of identification guides the kind of clinical decision-making that is required for customized treatment regimens that align with the needs of individual patients.
However, implementing clinical decision support systems in Saudi Arabia presents various hurdles, including the need for training and support, high costs, and opposition to change from healthcare workers. Meaningful long-term improvements in medication safety will require:
- A culture of transparency
- Commitment to lifelong learning and continuing medical education
- Non-punitive error reporting
- Aligned patient education
- Continuing medical education
Regular training can help encourage acceptance of more sophisticated technology, including EHRs and medical decision support systems that simplify drug management and enhance communication within healthcare teams.
Eng. Al Ammar leads medication safety transformation at National Medical Care Company
Eng. Ibrahim Al Ammar, Chief Information & Technology Officer at National Medical Care Company, has been at the leading edge of systemic healthcare change in Saudi Arabia. He has driven large-scale projects focused on improving patient care and operational excellence across the enterprise. A key element of this success has been the implementation of Wolters Kluwer’s Medi-Span®. This EHR-integrated solution has been key to transforming prescribing practices, reducing clinician burnout, and preventing medication errors—setting a new benchmark for medication safety across the country.
Eng. Al Ammar envisions a future of medication safety in Saudi Arabia that builds on its past of printed formularies and pharmacists’ knowledge—identifying limitations of human memory and augmenting those gaps with EHR integrations that incorporate real-time proactive decision support at the point of care. The next generation of these systems moves beyond simple rule-based alerts to solutions that improve patient outcomes through intelligent, actionable insights. Older rule-based systems brought with them the challenge of alert fatigue and poor workflow integration, burdening clinicians with non-critical notifications and overly complex interfaces. Medi-Span gets in front of these hurdles with patient-specific and context-aware alerts that consider factors including lab results, age, and renal function. It supports a positive clinician experience and improved patient safety by suppressing low-value alerts and allowing for customization.
