Best possible medication history in the emergency department: comparing pharmacy technicians and pharmacists

Obtaining an accurate and complete medication list (i.e., the best possible medication history [BPMH]) is the first step in completing medication reconciliation. The ability of pharmacy technicians to obtain medication histories, relative to that of pharmacists, has not been formally assessed.

To determine whether pharmacy technicians at the authors' institution could obtain a BPMH as accurately and completely as pharmacists and if both groups met national norms for unintentional discrepancies and the success index for medication reconciliation.

Pharmacy technicians were trained in obtaining a BPMH at the beginning of the study, before any patients were enrolled. Patients presenting to the emergency department were prospectively enrolled to be interviewed separately by both a pharmacist and a technician, with information recorded on standard medication reconciliation forms. The completed forms for each patient were compared following each set of interviews, and discrepancies were clarified with the patient.

Fifty-nine patients were included in the study, and 3 pharmacists and 2 technicians obtained the histories. There was no significant difference between pharmacists and technicians in terms of discrepancies involving prescription drugs (χ(2) = 0.52, df = 1, n = 118, p = 0.47, Cramer's V for effect size = 0.07) or over-the-counter medications (χ(2) = 0.09, df = 1, n = 118, p = 0.77, Cramer's V = 0.03). The mean number of discrepancies per patient did not differ significantly between the pharmacists and technicians (t = 0.15, df = 58, p = 0.88 for prescription drugs; t = -0.22, df = 58, p = 0.83 for over-the-counter products). For both groups, the number of unintentional discrepancies per patient was significantly lower and the success index for medication reconciliation significantly higher than the national average.

Trained pharmacy technicians at the authors' institution were able to obtain a BPMH with as much accuracy and completeness as pharmacists. Both groups were significantly superior to the national average in terms of unintentional discrepancies and success index for medication reconciliation.