The rate and nature of medication errors among elderly upon admission to hospital after implementation of clinical pharmacist-led medication reconciliation
Waleij, Leila LU ; Eriksson, Tommy LU ; Höglund, Peter LU and Midlöv, Patrik LU
(2014)
In European Journal of Hospital Pharmacy: Science and Practice
21(3).
p.156-160
- Abstract
- Objectives To determine the frequency and nature of erroneous transfer of medication information (medication errors) upon admission to hospital and to study the effect of medication reconciliation. Methods Included patients were 65years of age or older, were living in nursing homes or in their own home with care provided by the community nursing system and had been admitted to hospital. The patients' medication lists from the community were compared with the hospital medication lists upon admission in order to study the discrepancies between the lists. The proportion of errors that were corrected by day 4 of hospitalisation was also studied as a measure of the effect of medication reconciliation conducted by clinical pharmacists who aimed... (More)
- Objectives To determine the frequency and nature of erroneous transfer of medication information (medication errors) upon admission to hospital and to study the effect of medication reconciliation. Methods Included patients were 65years of age or older, were living in nursing homes or in their own home with care provided by the community nursing system and had been admitted to hospital. The patients' medication lists from the community were compared with the hospital medication lists upon admission in order to study the discrepancies between the lists. The proportion of errors that were corrected by day 4 of hospitalisation was also studied as a measure of the effect of medication reconciliation conducted by clinical pharmacists who aimed to identify the patients' accurate and complete medication history. Results A total of 149 patients were included over a 10-month period. In 68 (46%) patients, there occurred at least one medication error, with an average of 0.95 errors per patient. Overall, 8.0% of all drug transfers were found to be incorrect. The clinical pharmacists detected all medication errors upon admission and 43% of them were corrected before day 4 of hospitalisation. Conclusions Medication errors upon admission to hospital are common; use of clinical pharmacists in the admission medication reconciliation process appears to be a useful method to reduce medication errors, but since our study lacked a control group further studies are needed to show the actual impact of pharmacist-led medication reconciliation upon admission to hospital. Furthermore, more actions are needed to enhance the safety and quality of medication information transfers. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/4609669
- author
- Waleij, Leila
LU
; Eriksson, Tommy
LU
; Höglund, Peter
LU
and Midlöv, Patrik
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2014
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Clinical Pharmacy, Geriatric Medicine, Medical Errors
- in
- European Journal of Hospital Pharmacy: Science and Practice
- volume
- 21
- issue
- 3
- pages
- 156 - 160
- publisher
- BMJ Publishing Group
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000337695600006
- scopus:84901266149
- ISSN
- 2047-9964
- DOI
- 10.1136/ejhpharm-2013-000403
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- fce685ed-3e93-4d89-9d01-d354aeafbad9 (old id 4609669)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 09:56:00
- date last changed
- 2022-04-01 02:30:22
@article{fce685ed-3e93-4d89-9d01-d354aeafbad9,
abstract = {{Objectives To determine the frequency and nature of erroneous transfer of medication information (medication errors) upon admission to hospital and to study the effect of medication reconciliation. Methods Included patients were 65years of age or older, were living in nursing homes or in their own home with care provided by the community nursing system and had been admitted to hospital. The patients' medication lists from the community were compared with the hospital medication lists upon admission in order to study the discrepancies between the lists. The proportion of errors that were corrected by day 4 of hospitalisation was also studied as a measure of the effect of medication reconciliation conducted by clinical pharmacists who aimed to identify the patients' accurate and complete medication history. Results A total of 149 patients were included over a 10-month period. In 68 (46%) patients, there occurred at least one medication error, with an average of 0.95 errors per patient. Overall, 8.0% of all drug transfers were found to be incorrect. The clinical pharmacists detected all medication errors upon admission and 43% of them were corrected before day 4 of hospitalisation. Conclusions Medication errors upon admission to hospital are common; use of clinical pharmacists in the admission medication reconciliation process appears to be a useful method to reduce medication errors, but since our study lacked a control group further studies are needed to show the actual impact of pharmacist-led medication reconciliation upon admission to hospital. Furthermore, more actions are needed to enhance the safety and quality of medication information transfers.}},
author = {{Waleij, Leila and Eriksson, Tommy and Höglund, Peter and Midlöv, Patrik}},
issn = {{2047-9964}},
keywords = {{Clinical Pharmacy; Geriatric Medicine; Medical Errors}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{3}},
pages = {{156--160}},
publisher = {{BMJ Publishing Group}},
series = {{European Journal of Hospital Pharmacy: Science and Practice}},
title = {{The rate and nature of medication errors among elderly upon admission to hospital after implementation of clinical pharmacist-led medication reconciliation}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/ejhpharm-2013-000403}},
doi = {{10.1136/ejhpharm-2013-000403}},
volume = {{21}},
year = {{2014}},
}