Dataset Information

Safe Medication Reconciliation: An Intervention to Improve Residents' Medication Reconciliation Skills.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Medication errors during hospitalization are a major patient safety concern. Medication reconciliation is an effective tool to reduce medication errors, yet internal medicine residents rarely receive formal education on the process.

Objective

We assessed if an educational intervention on quality improvement principles and effective medication reconciliation for internal medicine residents will lead to fewer medication discrepancies and more accurate discharge medication lists.

Methods

From July 2012 to May 2013, internal medicine residents from 3 academic institutions who were rotating at the Washington DC VA Medical Center received twice-monthly interactive educational sessions on medication reconciliation, using both institutional summary metrics and data from their own discharges. Sessions were led by a faculty member or chief resident. Accuracy of discharge instructions for residents in the intervention group was compared to the accuracy of discharge data from June 2012 for a group of residents who did not receive the intervention. We used χ(2) analysis to assess for differences.

Results

The number of duplicate medications (23% versus 12%, P = .01); extraneous medications (14% versus 6%, P = .014); medications sorted by disease or indication (25% versus 77%, P < .001); and the number of discrepancies in discharge summaries (34% versus 11%, P < .001) statistically improved. No difference in the number of omissions was found between the 2 groups (17% versus 15%, P = .62).

Conclusions

An educational intervention targeting internal medicine residents can be implemented with reasonable staff and time costs, and is effective in reducing the number of medication discrepancies at discharge.

SUBMITTER: Arundel C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4597952 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:IntroductionMedication reconciliation, a technique that assists in aligning a care team's understanding of an individual's true medication regimen, is vital to optimize medication use and prevent medication errors. Historically, most medication reconciliation research has focused on institutional settings and transitional care, with comparatively little attention given to medication reconciliation in community settings. To optimize medication reconciliation for community-dwelling older adults, healthcare professionals and older adults must be engaged in co-designing processes that create sustainable approaches.MethodsAcademic researchers, older adults, and community- and health system-based healthcare professionals engaged in a participatory process to better understand medication reconciliation barriers and co-design solutions. The initiative consisted of two participatory research approaches: (1) Sparks Innovation Studios, which synthesized professional expertise and opinions, and (2) a Community Consultation Studio with older adults. Input from both groups informed a list of possible solutions and these were ranked based on evaluative criteria of feasibility, person-centeredness, equity, and sustainability.ResultsSparks Innovation Studios identified a lack of ownership, fragmented healthcare systems, and time constraints as the leading barriers to medication reconciliation. The Community Consultation Studio revealed that older adults often feel dismissed in medical encounters and perceive poor communication with and among providers. The Community Consultation Studio and Sparks Innovation Studios resulted in four highly-ranked solutions to improve medication reconciliation: (1) support for older adults to improve health literacy and ownership; (2) ensuring medication indications are included on prescription labels; (3) trainings and incentives for front-line staff in clinic settings to become champions for medication reconciliation; and (4) electronic health record improvements that simplify active medication lists.ConclusionEngaging community representatives with academic partners in the research process enhanced understanding of community priorities and provided a practical roadmap for innovations that have the potential to improve the well-being of community-dwelling older adults.

Project description:ObjectivesThis study aimed to describe the effect of using an innovative teaching strategy using a video tutorial on enhancing students' knowledge about medication reconciliation, and skills in identifying medication discrepancies.MethodsThis is a one group pre-post interventional study that was conducted at the School of Pharmacy at Applied Science Private University. Sixty pharmacy students were invited to attend an educational sessions that involve watching a 6-minutes video tutorial. The first two levels of the Kirkpatrick's Model were used to evaluate the effectiveness of this training tool. Level 1 (Reaction) was assessed using a satisfaction questionnaire, while level 2 (Learning) was assessed using two criteria: 1) student acquired knowledge about medication reconciliation using a questionnaire and a knowledge score out of 13 was calculated for each student, and 2) student acquired skills in identifying medication discrepancies using a virtual case scenario. If the student was able to identify any of the four impeded discrepancies he/she rewarded 1 point for each identified discrepancy, but if they identified any incorrect discrepancy they scored a negative point.ResultsAmong the 60 students who registered to participate in the study, 49 attended the educational training (response rate 81.6%). The majority of them (n=44, 89.8%) were satisfied with the training process. Before the video tutorial, students showed an overall low knowledge score [4.08/13.0, SD 1.81], and low ability to identify discrepancies [0.72 identified discrepancies out of 4.0, SD 1.1]. Following the video tutorial, the overall knowledge score was improved (p<0.001), and students were able to identify more discrepancies after watching the video (p<0.001).ConclusionIn conclusion, video education has shown itself to be an effective method to educate pharmacy students.. This visualized method can be applied to other areas within pharmacy education. We encourage the integration of videos within the learning process to enhance students' learning experience and to support the traditional learning provided by the teaching staff.