Leveraging technology and human factor principles to improve outpatient medication reconciliation

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Quality Improvement
• Patient Safety
• Medication Management

Background:

• Medication reconciliation is vital for patient safety, aiming to prevent medication errors during care transitions.
• Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City (SSMC) set a 92% outpatient medication reconciliation compliance goal, which the department of medicine initially struggled to meet (80% average).

Purpose of the Study:

• To detail quality improvement initiatives implemented to boost outpatient medication reconciliation compliance.
• To report the outcomes of these initiatives in a large tertiary hospital's department of medicine.

Main Methods:

• A 14-month study (August 2023-September 2024) evaluated 133,328 patient visits in outpatient specialty clinics.
• Applied critical thinking, technology, and human factor principles to address compliance gaps.
• Focused on understanding the clinical context and human elements in medication reconciliation processes.

Main Results:

• Outpatient medication reconciliation compliance increased from an average of 80% to 97% between August 2023 and April-September 2024.
• The achieved improvement in compliance was sustained over the study period.
• The initiative involved analysis of performance data from the first two quarters of 2023.

Conclusions:

• Quality improvement initiatives integrating technology and human factors can significantly enhance medication reconciliation compliance.
• Understanding clinical context and human elements is crucial for effective information technology implementation in healthcare.
• The project's success offers a replicable model for other departments and healthcare organizations to improve patient safety.