Survey of medication documentation at hospital discharge: implications for patient safety and continuity of care.
Ir J Med Sci
; 177(2): 93-7, 2008 Jun.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-18414970
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Medication discrepancies at the time of hospital discharge are common and can result in error, patient/carer inconvenience or patient harm. Providing accurate medication information to the next care provider is necessary to prevent adverse events.AIMS:
To investigate the quality and consistency of medication details generated for such transfer from an Irish teaching hospital.METHODS:
This was an observational study of 139 cardiology patients admitted over a 3 month period during which a pharmacist prospectively recorded details of medication inconsistencies.RESULTS:
A discrepancy in medication documentation at discharge occurred in 10.8% of medication orders, affecting 65.5% of patients. While patient harm was assessed, it was only felt necessary to contact three (2%) patients. The most common inconsistency was drug omission (20.9%).CONCLUSIONS:
Inaccuracy of medication information at hospital discharge is common and compromises quality of care.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Patient Discharge
/
Drug Prescriptions
/
Practice Patterns, Physicians'
/
Cardiovascular Diseases
/
Continuity of Patient Care
/
Documentation
/
Drug Information Services
Type of study:
Observational_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
Limits:
Adolescent
/
Adult
/
Aged
/
Aged80
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
En
Journal:
Ir J Med Sci
Year:
2008
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Ireland
Country of publication:
IE
/
IRELAND
/
IRLANDA