Improving medication reconciliation in the outpatient setting.

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Patient Safety
• Clinical Pharmacy

Background:

• Inadequate prescription medication reconciliation in outpatient settings leads to errors.
• A systematic study was conducted to address these discrepancies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if a multifaceted intervention reduces medication reconciliation discrepancies.
• To assess the impact of provider and patient involvement on medication errors.

Main Methods:

• A prospective trial involving 104 primary care patients at Mayo Clinic.
• Phase I: standard care. Phase II: intervention including patient reminders, verification, electronic record correction, academic detailing, and feedback.
• Data collected on prescription medication errors and discrepancies.

Main Results:

• Prescription medication errors decreased from 88.9% (Phase I) to 66% (Phase II) of visits (p = .005).
• Considering all medications, errors decreased from 98.2% (Phase I) to 84% (Phase II) (p = .0134).
• Average discrepancies per patient dropped by over 50%, from 5.24 to 2.46.

Conclusions:

• A multifaceted intervention involving the healthcare team and patients is vital.
• Enhanced medication reconciliation improves patient safety in outpatient care.