Ensuring safe and effective psychotropic medication titration
Care Continuum
Care Process & Redesign
National Healthcare Innovation and Productivity Medals
National University Health System
30 January 2026
This project aims to achieve the following within 12 months: 90% of families use the medication titration materials, 50% are. The intervention shows promise for improving medication titration processes and reducing the time to effective dosage and refill...
Year Submitted: 2025
Published Date: 30 January 2026
Tags: Care Process ＆ Redesign, Quality Improvement, Workflow Redesign, Value Based Care, Safe Care, Care Continuum, Population Health, Mental Health
About this Content
Aims
This project aims to achieve the following within 12 months: 90% of families use the medication titration materials, 50% are comfortable communicating dosage titration, and days needed to reach the effective dose are reduced to 30 percent of the baseline interval.
Background
Mental health and developmental conditions have a global prevalence of 16% in children. Many of these conditions require psychotropic medications that are controlled substances with side effects. Coordination of dosage titration and refill is labour-intensive and carries risks for communication errors.
Methods
Data was collected on characteristics of children on psychotropic medication(s) from May to October 2021. Every 3 months, data was extracted on % families using QI materials, % communicated about titration, days from index visit to effective dose, and days for refills to be prescribed.
The project included the use of education infographics and a standardized reporting and refill form to address identified problems.
Results
At 12-months post intervention, 93.8% of families were using the QI materials and over two-thirds of families communicated about their titration process before their clinic review visit. The number of days until effective dosage was reduced from 122.0 (SD 29.8) to 34.1 (22.0) days, while the days needed for families to obtain refills decreased to a mean of 2.0 (SD 1.8) days.
Conclusion
The intervention shows promise for improving medication titration processes and reducing the time to effective dosage and refill times.
Lessons Learnt
The provision of easy-to-understand education materials and standardised reporting/refill forms empowered families to conduct medication titration at home and reduced the days needed to reach the most effective dosage.
Keywords
psychotropic, medication, titration, paediatrics, ADHD
Innovators' Details
Innovators' Details
Healthcare Cluster(s) | National University Health System |
Organization(s) Involved | National University Hospital |
Platform(s) | National Healthcare Innovation and Productivity Medals |
Healthcare Professional Group(s) | Healthcare Administration, Medical |
Applicable Specialty or Discipline | Healthcare Administrators, Clinical Research, Medical, Psychiatry |
Project Lead(s) | Evelyn Chung Ning LAW |
Project Member(s) | Sherlyn CHAN |
Connect with this contributor!
Evelyn Chung Ning LAW - Evelyn_Law@nuhs.edu.sg
Sherlyn Chan - Sherlyn_sj_Chan@nuhs.edu.sg
Project Attachment
439_NUH_NHIP_2024_Ensuring_safe_and_effective_psychotropic_medication_titration.pdf