Patient's medicines brought to hospital: an overlooked resource?

To quantify potential cost advantages and identify practical safeguards required for utilising patients own medicines while in hospital, and returning them on discharge.

All medicines brought in by patients in two wards of a geriatric assessment and rehabilitation unit at Auckland Hospital were examined by the pharmacist, and their suitability for re-issue assessed. Medicines were regarded as suitable for use where they could be positively identified, had been dispensed within 3 months of admission, or if packed in foil, provided the expiry date and manufacturer identification were on the foil.

Medicines (260 items) totalling $2,976, assessed over a 6 month period, were regarded as suitable for use by the patient, with a mean value of $11.36 per patient.

Patients own medicines used within the hospital with a unit-of-issue distribution system, and taken home by them on discharge, would provide appreciable savings for the hospital medicine budget and reduction in waste of the overall health dollar.