The Role of Pharmacy in Supporting Safe and Effective Transitions of Care

Authors

Laressa Bethishou, Chapman UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-15-2024

Abstract

Goal To inform pharmacists and pharmacy technicians of the importance of and processes for conducting transitions of care when patients are moving among healthcare settings.
Summary A narrative review of recent events and research into transitions of care (TOCs) — the movement of patients from one healthcare setting to another. To be conducted safely and effectively, the entire patient care team must optimize patient care and communicate up-to-date information among its members. As the medication experts on the healthcare team, pharmacists are well poised to receive and share information that impacts medication use and patient safety. Pharmacy technicians can play an important role by assisting with tasks such as taking medication histories. In this program, the importance of effective TOC practices is examined, including effects on morbidity and mortality, readmissions, emergency department visits, need for follow up, hospital length of stay, quality of care, medication errors, adverse events, and patient satisfaction.

Pharmacist interventions support patients by effectively managing medications, providing patient-centered education, assessing, and addressing access barriers, and supporting continuity of care. The impact of these interventions includes reducing readmission rates, medication error reduction, improved patient satisfaction, and cost savings. Successful TOC practice models should be multimodal and multidisciplinary; interventions should provide continuity of care beyond the inpatient setting and include services at home and in the outpatient setting.

Comments

This article was originally published in Journal of Contemporary Pharmacy Practice, volume 71, issue 2, in 2024. https://doi.org/10.37901/cpha24-04

Recommended Citation

Laressa Bethishou; The Role of Pharmacy in Supporting Safe and Effective Transitions of Care. Journal of Contemporary Pharmacy Practice 1 June 2024; 71 (2): 23–33. doi: https://doi.org/10.37901/cpha24-04

Copyright

California Pharmacists Association (CPhA)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.