Please reconcile, not wait a while.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Quality Improvement
• Patient Safety
• Pediatric Pharmacy Practice

Background:

• Inaccurate medication reconciliation in pediatric wards occurred 50% of the time.
• Medication-related patient safety incidents increase when reconciliation exceeds 24 hours post-admission.
• A quality improvement project aimed to optimize medication reconciliation processes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To achieve 100% accurate pediatric medication reconciliation by midday the day after admission.
• To reduce medication errors and enhance patient safety in pediatric care.
• To implement and evaluate interventions for improving medication reconciliation rates.

Main Methods:

• A 12-week quality improvement project involving daily review of pediatric inpatient drug charts.
• Utilized Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles to assess intervention effectiveness.
• Interventions included doctor education, awareness posters, and parent/child questionnaires.

Main Results:

• Achieved a mean reconciliation rate of 79%, reaching 100% on 34 occasions.
• Sustained 100% reconciliation continuously for the final 3 weeks of the project.
• A follow-up audit confirmed the 100% reconciliation rate was maintained.

Conclusions:

• Multidisciplinary involvement, including parents and children, was key to success.
• Targeted interventions significantly improved pediatric medication reconciliation rates.
• Sustained high rates of medication reconciliation enhance pediatric patient safety.