Educating medical trainees on medication reconciliation: a systematic review

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Patient Safety
• Pharmacology

Background:

• Effective medication reconciliation is crucial for preventing adverse drug events.
• Medical trainees frequently perform medication reconciliation for vulnerable patients.
• Training medical trainees in medication reconciliation is essential for quality patient care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review education initiatives aimed at enhancing medical trainees' medication reconciliation skills.
• To identify published interventions focusing on trainee roles in medication reconciliation.
• To assess the reported outcomes of such educational interventions.

Main Methods:

• Systematic review of MEDLINE and EMBASE databases.
• Inclusion of studies published between July 1980 and July 2013 in English or French.
• Focus on articles detailing medical trainee involvement and reporting trainee-specific data in medication reconciliation.

Main Results:

• Only seven studies met eligibility criteria, highlighting a scarcity of published educational initiatives.
• Interventions targeted internal medicine clerkship students (4 studies) and residents (3 studies).
• Five of the seven interventions incorporated an experiential learning component.

Conclusions:

• Medication reconciliation education interventions demonstrated variable success rates.
• Some interventions improved trainee competence and confidence, particularly in undergraduate medical students.
• Other interventions showed minimal impact on trainee performance in medication reconciliation.