Developing an Integrated Electronic Medication Reconciliation Platform and Evaluating its Effects on Preventing Potential Duplicated Medications and Reducing 30-Day Medication-Related Hospital Revisits for Inpatients.

The aims were to develop an integrated electronic medication reconciliation (ieMR) platform, evaluate its effects on preventing potential duplicated medications, analyze the distribution of the potential duplicated medications by the Anatomical Therapeutic and Chemical (ATC) code for all inpatients, and determine the rate of 30-day medication-related hospital revisits for a geriatric unit. The study was conducted in a tertiary medical center in Taiwan and involved a retrospective quasi pre-intervention (July 1-November 30, 2015) and post-intervention (October 1-December 31, 2016) study design. A multidisciplinary team developed the ieMR platform covering the process from admission to discharge. The ieMR platform included six modules of an enhanced computer physician order entry system (eCPOE), Pharmaceutical-care, Holistic Care, Bedside Display, Personalized Best Possible Medication Discharge Plan, and Pharmaceutical Care Registration System. The ieMR platform prevented the number of potential duplicated medications from pre (25,196 medications, 2.3%) to post (23,413 medications, 3.8%) phases (OR 1.71, 95% CI, 1.68-1.74; p < .001). The most common potential duplicated medications classified by the ATC codes were cardiovascular system (28.4%), alimentary tract and metabolism (26.4%), and nervous system (14.9%), and by chemical substances were sennoside (12.5%), amlodipine (7.5%), and alprazolam (7.4%). The rate of medication-related 30-day hospital revisits for the geriatric unit was significantly decreased in post-intervention compared with that in pre-intervention (OR = 0.12; 95% CI, 0.03-0.53; p < .01). This study indicated that the ieMR platform significantly prevented the number of potential duplicated medications for inpatients and reduced the rate of 30-day medication-related hospital revisits for the patients on the geriatric unit.

The impact of a medication reconciliation programme at geriatric hospital admission: A pre-/postintervention study.

AIMS: The aim of this study was to improve medication reconciliation and reduce the occurrence of duplicate prescriptions by pharmacists and physicians within 72 hours of hospital admission using an intelligent prescription system combined with the National Health Insurance PharmaCloud system to integrate the database with the medical institution computerized physician order entry (CPOE) system. METHODS: This 2-year intervention study was implemented in the geriatric ward of a hospital in Taiwan. We developed an integrated CPOE system linked with the PharmaCloud database and established an electronic platform for coordinated communication with all healthcare professionals. Patients provided written informed consent to access their PharmaCloud records. We compared the intervention effectiveness within 72 hours of admission for improvement in pharmacist medication reconciliation, increased at-home medications documentation and decreased costs from duplicated at-home prescriptions. RESULTS: The medication reconciliation rate within 72 hours of admission increased from 44.0% preintervention to 86.8% postintervention (relative risk = 1.97, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.69-2.31; P < .001). The monthly average of patients who brought and took home medications documented in the CPOE system during hospitalization increased by 7.54 (95% CI 5.58-20.49, P = .22). The monthly average of home medications documented increased by 102.52 (95% CI 38.44-166.60; P = .01). Savings on the monthly average prescription expenditures of at-home medication increased by US$ 2,795.52 (95% CI US$1310.41-4280.63; P < .01). CONCLUSION: Integrating medication data from PharmaCloud to the hospital's medical chart system improved pharmacist medication reconciliation, which decreased duplicated medications and reduced in-hospital medication costs.

Conciliación de la medicación: desde el ingreso hasta la atención primaria / Medication reconciliation: from admission to primary care

Objetivos. Implementar un circuito de conciliación de la medicación interniveles, integral y multidisciplinar en una organización sanitaria integrada. Medir las discrepancias detectadas en cada uno de los pasos estudiados. Método. Estudio de intervención, prospectivo y de un año de duración. La medicación se concilió en 3 momentos distintos del paso del paciente por el sistema sanitario: al ingreso en el hospital, al alta y cuando el paciente acudió a su médico de Atención Primaria. Se recogieron y resolvieron las discrepancias detectadas cada vez que se concilió la medicación, y se cuantificó el número total de medicamentos antes y después de cada proceso de conciliación. Resultados. Entre el 1 de noviembre de 2013 y el 30 de octubre de 2014 se concilió la medicación a 77 pacientes, 63% hombres, con una media de edad de 69,5 años. La media de discrepancias por paciente fue de 7,85 al ingreso, 3,67 al alta y 2,19 en Atención Primaria. Conclusiones. Este programa de conciliación de la medicación, además de detectar y resolver las discrepancias, ha sido un punto de partida para establecer nuevas vías de comunicación entre los diferentes profesionales sanitarios que han intervenido en el programa y difundir la cultura de seguridad dentro de la organización (AU)

Objectives. To implement a medication reconciliation circuit of inter-level, comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach in an integrated health organization. To measure the discrepancies detected in each of the steps studied. Method. A prospective intervention study of one-year duration. The medication is reconciled at admission to the hospital, at discharge and when the patient goes to his Primary Care physician. The number and type of discrepancies detected each time the medication is reconciled are collected and resolved, as well as the total number of drugs before and after each reconciliation process quantified. Results. Between November 1, 2013 and October 31, 2014 the medication had been reconciled to 77 patients, 63% male, mean age 69,5 years. Mean admission discrepancy per patient was 7,85, 3,67 at discharge and 2,19 at Primary Care. Conclusions. This program of medication reconciliation, in addition to detect and resolve discrepancies, has been a starting point for establishing new channels of communication between the different health professionals who have participated in the program and disseminate the safety culture within the organization (AU)

Improving medication safety with accurate preadmission medication lists and postdischarge education.

BACKGROUND: Gathering a complete preadmission medication list (PAML) at admission remains an essential component of medication reconciliation, as is providing the patient with a written medication list at the time of hospital discharge. A medication reconciliation project was begun in 2007 at an integrated health care system to (1) improve the accuracy of PAMLs within 24 hours of admission for patients admitted through the emergency department (ED) and (2) enhance patient education through telephone calls by pharmacists to the patients most at risk for adverse drug events (ADEs) or readmission. ACCURACY OF PAMLs: In the October 2007-May 2008 period, RN-generated PAMLs were accurate 16% of the time versus 89% for the June 2008-December 2010 period, when they were generated by pharmacy technicians. Medication errors classified as having the potential to cause moderate or serious harm decreased from 13.17% to 1.50%. POSTDISCHARGE EDUCATION OF COMPLEX PATIENTS BY PHARMACISTS: By summer 2009, the Safe Med pharmacist program was fully staffed, thereby enabling the program to contact nearly 100% of the 10,174 patients meeting the Safe Med criteria from January 2009 through December 2010. When compared with historical controls, the Safe Med intervention was associated with a statistically significant reduction in 30- and 60-day readmissions, ADE-associated 30- and 60-day readmissions, and 30- and 60-day ED visits. CONCLUSIONS: ED-deployed pharmacy personnel can enhance the accuracy of PAMLs and may thereby reduce in-hospital ADEs. The postdischarge intervention by pharmacists with the most complex patients may reduce ADEs following hospital discharge. The interventions may compensate for discontinuities in care and lessen the attendant threats to patient safety.

Acceptance and importance of clinical pharmacists' LIMM-based recommendations.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate the quality of the clinical pharmacy service in a Swedish hospital according to the Lund Integrated Medicine Management (LIMM) model, in terms of the acceptance and clinical significance of the recommendations made by clinical pharmacists. METHOD: The clinical significance of the recommendations made by clinical pharmacists was assessed for a random sample of inpatients receiving the clinical pharmacy service in 2007. Two independent physicians retrospectively ranked the recommendations emerging from errors in the patients' current medication list and actual drug-related problems according to Hatoum, with rankings ranging between 1 (adverse significance) and 6 (extremely significant). RESULTS: The random sample comprised 132 patients (out of 800 receiving the service). The clinical significance of 197 recommendations was assessed. The physicians accepted and implemented 178 (90%) of the clinical pharmacists' recommendations. Most of these recommendations, 170 (83%), were ranked 3 (somewhat significant) or higher. CONCLUSION: This study provides further evidence of the quality of the LIMM model and confirms that the inclusion of clinical pharmacists in a multi-professional team can improve drug therapy for inpatients. The very high level of acceptance by the physicians of the pharmacists' recommendations further demonstrates the effectiveness of the process.

Integrating medicines management into mental health nursing in UK.

There is increasing concern that mental health nurses in UK are inadequately trained in medicines management. Recommended solutions entail proposals for further training to improve safety for service users. Although fundamentally important, these organizational approaches lack a conceptual framework to explain how individual practitioners develop competence in medicines management. This is important because applying knowledge of how individuals learn makes strategic interventions more effective. This article presents empirical evidence of how individual mental health nurse prescribers develop competence in prescribing within the context of the therapeutic relationship. It is proposed that these findings can then be extended to inform medicines management training relevant to all mental health nurses, whether prescribers or not.