Pharmacists' recommendations to improve care transitions

Area of Science:

• Pharmacy Practice
• Patient Safety
• Health Literacy

Background:

• Hospitals increasingly use multifaceted programs, involving pharmacists, to enhance medication reconciliation and care transitions.
• Effective medication management during care transitions is critical for patient outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate pharmacists' perspectives on their roles in hospital medication reconciliation and discharge counseling.
• To gather pharmacists' recommendations for improving patient care transitions.

Main Methods:

• Semistructured interviews were conducted with 11 pharmacists across 2 hospitals.
• Interview data were systematically coded to analyze pharmacists' views on medication reconciliation, counseling, adherence aids, and follow-up.

Main Results:

• Pharmacists identified medication reconciliation as a key role in detecting errors and improving transitions of care.
• They highlighted the value of tailored counseling and adherence aids for patients with low health literacy.
• Pharmacists suggested utilizing administrative staff for initial follow-up to improve efficiency.

Conclusions:

• Pharmacists are vital in medication reconciliation, identifying adherence issues, and providing tailored counseling to improve care transitions.
• Further research is needed to validate these findings and assess different pharmacist involvement models.