Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-2017
Abstract
Purpose: At Stanford Health Care, as part of a hospital-wide initiative to reduce pneumonia readmission rates, an interdisciplinary collaborative effort was created between physicians and transitions of care (ToC) pharmacists to optimize discharge planning and medication management for pneumonia patients. The purpose of this study was to describe the impact of the ToC pharmacist in identifying and reducing medication errors on discharge for pneumonia patients.
Methodology: Retrospective chart review was conducted on patients discharged with a pneumonia diagnosis between December 2015 to Feb 2016. Patients were stratified based on whether they received ToC pharmacist medication review vs. standard of care. Errors were identified by comparing the patient discharge medication list to the physician discharge summary, home, and inpatient medication lists. Errors rates were compared and stratified by error type. Pharmacist interventions were quantified.
Results: Of the 125 patients discharged with pneumonia, 69 patients received ToC pharmacist medication review, while 56 patients received standard of care. In the ToC intervention group, 6 errors were identified for 5 patients, which equates to an error rate of 7.2%. In the standard of care group, 85 medication errors were identified for 36 patients (64.3% error rate). The difference was statistically significant (P < 0.0001) and corresponds to an 88.8% relative decrease. The most common error recorded was incorrect medication/dose/frequency. During this time, the ToC pharmacist had 71 documented interventions.
Conclusions: ToC pharmacist interventions demonstrated a clinically and statistically significant decrease in medication discrepancies, as well as an increased rate of accuracy of the discharge medication list. Continued metrics and interventions are being collected to assess the impact of the ToC pharmacists on patient outcomes. Keywords: Transitions
Recommended Citation
Bethishou L, Fang N, Shieh L. Reducing medication errors in pneumonia patients during transitions of care. California Journal of Health-System Pharmacy. 2017;29(6):196-202.
Copyright
California Society of Health-System Pharmacists
Included in
Health and Medical Administration Commons, Other Medicine and Health Sciences Commons, Other Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Commons, Pharmacy Administration, Policy and Regulation Commons, Virus Diseases Commons
Comments
This article was originally published in California Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, volume 29, issue 6, in 2017.