Evaluation of the impact of pharmacist-led medication reconciliation intervention: a single centre pre–post study from Ethiopia
- 28 August 2018
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
- Vol. 40 (5), 1209-1216
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s11096-018-0722-9
Abstract
Background The role of pharmacists in medication reconciliation (MedRec) is highly acknowledged in many developed nations. However, the impact of this strategy has not been well researched in low-and-middle-income countries, including Ethiopia. Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of pharmacist-led MedRec intervention on the incidence of unintentional medication discrepancies in Ethiopia. Setting Emergency department in a tertiary care teaching hospital in Ethiopia. Method A single centre, prospective, pre-post study was conducted on adults (aged 18 years or over) that had been hospitalized for at least 24 h and were taking at least 2 home medications on admission. The intervention involved assignment of a pharmacist to an emergency care team so as to take the best possible medication history and reconcile this list with the current medications in use. Main outcome measure Incidence and potential clinical severity of unintentional medication discrepancies. Results 123 patients were included (pre-intervention, 49; post-intervention, 74). The proportion of patients with at least one unintended discrepancy was reduced from 59 to 10.5% after the intervention (p < 0.001). Similarly, the percentage of patients with potentially severe clinical impact medication discrepancies reduced significantly after the intervention (p < 0.01). Most importantly, the likelihood of occurrence of unintentional medication discrepancies was approximately 17 times more often in the absence of pharmacist intervention (OR 16.45, 95% CI 5.22, 51.85). Conclusion This study has found that pharmacist-led MedRec intervention was impactful, and it was able to minimize the incidence of unintentional medication discrepancies significantly.Keywords
Funding Information
- The University of Sydney
This publication has 28 references indexed in Scilit:
- Effect of a Pharmacist Intervention on Clinically Important Medication Errors After Hospital DischargeAnnals of Internal Medicine, 2012
- Impact of the Lund Integrated Medicines Management (LIMM) model on medication appropriateness and drug-related hospital revisitsEuropean Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 2011
- Results of the Medications At Transitions and Clinical Handoffs (MATCH) Study: An Analysis of Medication Reconciliation Errors and Risk Factors at Hospital AdmissionJournal of General Internal Medicine, 2010
- Medication Reconciliation at Hospital Discharge: Evaluating DiscrepanciesAnnals of Pharmacotherapy, 2008
- Classifying and Predicting Errors of Inpatient Medication ReconciliationJournal of General Internal Medicine, 2008
- Medication reconciliation for reducing drug-discrepancy adverse eventsThe American Journal of Geriatric Pharmacotherapy, 2006
- Role of Pharmacist Counseling in Preventing Adverse Drug Events After HospitalizationArchives of Internal Medicine, 2006
- Posthospital Medication DiscrepanciesArchives of Internal Medicine, 2005
- Frequency, type and clinical importance of medication history errors at admission to hospital: a systematic reviewCMAJ : Canadian Medical Association Journal, 2005
- Unintended Medication Discrepancies at the Time of Hospital AdmissionArchives of Internal Medicine, 2005