Bedside execution, not schedule mismatch: characterizing inpatient carbidopa-levodopa administration timing in Parkinson disease
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Background
Timely carbidopa-levodopa administration is a recognized inpatient safety priority in Parkinson disease, and mistiming is common, but where in the medication-use process it arises is uncharacterized.
Objectives
To localize where inpatient mistiming arises and where to target intervention.
Methods
In a single-center retrospective analysis of hospitalized adults with Parkinson disease on home carbidopa-levodopa, each dose’s administration time was compared with the individualized home schedule. Mistiming was defined a priori as more than 15 minutes from the home time (Parkinson’s Foundation Hospital Care Standard 2). We characterized the deviation distribution, tested whether administrations tracked the schedule or the standard grid, and examined length-of-stay and readmission.
Results
Across 947 doses in 101 patients, ordering was accurate, yet 62.9% (596 of 947) missed the home time by more than 15 minutes and 99% of patients had at least one mistimed dose. Administrations tracked the individualized schedule almost exactly (Pearson r 0.98), not the standard grid: only 10% fell within 15 minutes of the default times, and the median dose sat 24 minutes from its home time but 76 from the nearest default. Deviation was symmetric drift (median absolute deviation 24 minutes; 16.5% beyond 60 minutes) and was not associated with length of stay (Spearman -0.11).
Conclusions
Mistiming reflected imprecise bedside execution, not ordering or a mismatch between fixed rounds and individualized regimens. These findings may point medication-safety efforts toward protecting bedside administration as complementary to redesigning orders.
