[Management of outpatient medications in care units: An audit of clinical practices]

To assess the outpatient medication management in care units two years after the release of an institutional procedure. To assess the patients' satisfaction with their treatment and with the information transmitted by healthcare professionals.

An audit of clinical practices was conducted in 23 units of our universitary hospital - general, surgery, emergency departments. Questionnaires were developed and validated by an institutional working group and were composed of three themes: management of the outpatient medication at the admission, awareness of tools and information transmission. Two physicians (a senior and a resident), a registered nurse, a head nurse and a patient were interviewed.

Eighty-one medical and paramedical team members and 21 patients were interviewed for the study. According to statements collected, the procedure was unknown by 100% of the interviewed surgeons and 69% of the interviewed physicians. The practices being used by the medical units were more in line with recommendations than the surgery units. Among the patients interviewed, 19 (86%) were satisfied with the information they received during their hospitalization and 4 (19%) managed their own medication treatment with the help of a nurse in only 36% of the cases according to their statements.

The management of outpatient medications during hospitalization is representative of the difficulties to master the continuity of pharmaceutical care at the various transition points. Coordination and cooperation between the different healthcare professionals and patients are the major key success to ensure an optimized healthcare procedure.