Integrated medicines management - can routine implementation improve quality?

Previous service development work in the area of integrated medicines management (IMM) has demonstrated clear quality improvements in a targeted group of patients within a hospital in Northern Ireland. In order to determine whether this programme could be transferable to routine practice and thereby assess its generalizability, research has been carried out to quantify the health care benefits of incorporating the concept of IMM as routine clinical practice.

The IMM programme of care was delivered to all eligible patients (subject to inclusion criteria) across two hospital sites in Northern Ireland during normal pharmacy opening hours. All patients were followed up for a period of 12 months from their time of hospital admission. All patient data were collected using the custom-designed Electronic Pharmacist Intervention Clinical System at each stage of their hospital journey, that is, admission, inpatient stay and discharge.

Patients who received the IMM service benefited from a reduced length of hospital stay on their reference admission (1.42 days; P = 0.020) as well as a reduced length of stay during the first rehospitalization (5.86 days; P = 0.013). There was also a trend of a reduced number of readmissions and a longer time to readmission during the 12-month follow-up period. Potential significant opportunity cost savings were demonstrated as well as a significant improvement in medication appropriateness (discharge vs. reference admission).

The IMM programme of care has proven to be transferable to routine hospital care within two hospitals in Northern Ireland. It is anticipated that this current research will further inform the development of IMM as routine clinical practice across Northern Ireland and beyond.