Abstract

Background and purpose: Unintentional medication errors are a significant problem in terms of morbidity, mortality and cost. Medication reconciliation is one of several strategies to reduce medication errors. The purpose of this study was to examine accuracy of electronic medication reconciliation upon admission compared to discharge.

Method: A retrospective electronic chart review was conducted at a tertiary care safety-net hospital using a data extraction tool created for the study. Modifiable and non-modifiable factors related to medication reconciliation were analyzed using descriptive statistics.

Conclusions: The sample of 150 patients (mean age 58.8, SD 9.4) had more males and was predominately white. Results suggest prevalence of medication discrepancies were detected, corrected and significant in greater than 60% of discharge medication reconciliations. Eighty percent of patients were discharged home with a change in medication regime. Seventy-one percent patients reported to be on five medications or more. The most common comorbid illnesses included hypertension (86%), hyperlipidemia (67%), and coronary artery disease (60%).

Implications: Discharge Medication Reconciliation is costly in terms of nursing workload. Detected discharge medication reconciliation took 30 minutes or less to get discrepancies corrected. Delay in discharge to correct medication discrepancies may have a negative impact on patient satisfaction and financial management of the institution. Outcomes rely on health care provider's ability to enter complete and accurate medication information in the medical record and to identify risk factors for medication discrepancies.

Julie Vinod

Author Details

Julie Vinod, DNP, MS, ANP-C, RN

Sigma Membership

Non-member

Type

DNP Capstone Project

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

Systematic Review

Research Approach

Other

Keywords:

Medication Reconciliation, Medication Discrepancies, Admission, Discharge

Advisor

Jurgens, Corrine

Degree

DNP

Degree Grantor

The State University of New York at Stony Brook

Degree Year

2015

Rights Holder

All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.

All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.

All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.

Review Type

Faculty Approved: Degree-based Submission

Acquisition

Self-submission

Date of Issue

2015-10-09

Full Text of Presentation

wf_yes

Download

Share

COinS