[From medication reconciliation to shared medication review: Pilot study integrating support for community...

Medication reconciliation at hospital and the shared medication review are two complementary activities for securing the medication management of the elderly patient. We are experimenting with a pharmaceutical care pathway including a support approach to promote continuity between these two activities and the initiation of shared medication review.

An admission and discharge medication reconciliation has been set up in a geriatric follow-up care and rehabilitation service. A drug assessment was also carried out during the hospital stay. Support for community pharmacists following conciliation was provided by phone calls. Medication discrepancies at admission and discharge, pharmaceutical interventions (PI) as well as satisfaction and difficulties encountered by community pharmacists were collected.

Thirty-three patients were included in the study. On admission, 33% of patients had an unintentional discrepancy and 15% on discharge. On average 1.15 PI per patient were notified. The support was propounded to 13 pharmacists. Eight pharmacists (62%) accepted it. Among them, 5 (62.5%) had never performed a medication review. Lack of time was the main difficulty encountered by pharmacists.

Our pathway enables to integrate hospital and primary care activities and specifically support the delicate transition between them. This enables to facilitate the implementation of these activities and to maintain a relevant and secure continuity of pharmaceutical care.