Current Practices of Medication Plans in Austrian Patients Undergoing Coronary Angiography: An In-Depth Analysis

Area of Science:

• Pharmacotherapy
• Patient Safety
• Health Informatics

Background:

• A complete medication plan (MPlan) is vital for medication safety and adherence, especially during care transitions.
• Standardized MPPlans improve patient understanding and management of medications.
• Austria lacks standardized MPPlans and data on their current use.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the current status of medication documentation (MDocs) at hospital admission in a high-risk Austrian population.
• To assess the quality and completeness of existing MPPlans.

Main Methods:

• 512 consecutive patients undergoing elective coronary angiography were enrolled.
• Medication documents (MDocs) and medications were recorded at admission.
• MPlans were defined as tabular lists with specific medication details.

Main Results:

• 55.1% of 485 patients had an MDoc; 54.3% of these were MPPlans.
• 31.3% of polypharmacy patients lacked any MDoc.
• 64.4% of MPPlans showed discrepancies with current medication, with only 10.7% being accurate.

Conclusions:

• Austrian routine practice falls short of standardized medication plans.
• Inaccurate MPPlans present a significant risk to pharmacotherapy effectiveness and patient safety.