Medication Reconciliation Is Defined By The Joint Commission

Goal three by the National Patient Safety Goal for 2014 is to use medicines safely. Many errors occur regularly with medications which is why communication is so important with the doctors, nurses and patients. One process that Joint Commission requires in accredited HCO’s is medication reconciliation “creating the most accurate list possible off all medications a patient is taking, including drug name, dosage, frequency, and route, and comparing that list against the physician’s admission, transfer, and/or discharge orders with the goal of providing correct medications to the patients at all transition points within the hospital (Finkelman & Kenner, 2012, p. 388)”. Ensuring medication reconciliation to the patient, health providers and any new consults that are

Each year, roughly 1.5 million adverse drug events (ADEs) occur in acute and long-term care settings across America (Institute of Medicine [IOM], 2006). An ADE is succinctly defined as actual or potential patient harm resulting from a medication error. To expound further, while ADEs may result from oversights related to prescribing or dispensing, 26-32% of all erroneous drug interventions occur during the nursing administration and monitoring phases (Anderson & Townsend, 2010). These mollifiable mishaps not only create a formidable financial burden for health care systems, they also carry the potential of imposing irreversible physiological impairment to patients and their families. In an effort to ameliorate cost inflation, undue detriment, and the potential for litigation, a multifactorial approach must be taken to improve patient outcomes. Key components in allaying drug-related errors from a nursing perspective include: implementing safety and quality measures, understanding the roles and responsibilities of the nurse, embracing technological safeguards, incorporating interdisciplinary collaborative efforts, and continued emphasis upon quality control.

In Australian hospitals medication administration errors make up 9% or 1 in10 of all medication administrations. These errors include wrong doses, wrong intravenous infusion rates and errors made by prescribing doctors. Errors on discharge of patients were increasingly higher with up to 2 errors per patient related to doctors transcribing discharge medications (Roughead, Semple, & Rosenfeld, 2016).

M e d i c a t i o n R e c o n c i l i a t i o n : A K e y I s s u e i n M e a n i n g f u l U s e

Medication errors are among the most significant cause of patient injury in all types of medical errors (Johnson, Carlson, Tucker, & Willette, n.d). In the nursing profession, medication administration errors occur 34% of the time, second only to physician ordering errors (Gooder, 2011). The introduction of information technology, such as the Bar Code Medication Administration (BCMA), offers new opportunities for reducing medication administration errors. BCMA was developed by the Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center in 1998 to help improve the documentation of medication administration, decrease medication errors and provide

            As electronic health records, have been a former nursing present transition, medication list equally compare in a transition as medication reconciliation is addressing preexisting medications that are no longer being taken by the patient, removed from the patient's medication list. The development of medication reconciliation is becoming the up and coming push to obtaining patient medication list accurately, precisely, and safely beginning in outpatient settings.  Similarly, nursing presences theory supports direct nursing practice to improve direct patient care, safety among medication treatment, as well as engagement to providers with patients (Presence in nursing practice: a concept analysis,

As a leader in the workplace, medication errors mostly occur when the workplace is understaffed with a patient load of full nursing cares that require more attention and care than patients who are independent. Due to being understaffed with a patient load of 13 to 2 nurses, medication errors occur more often as nurses are being rushed to finish all cares within their work timeframe. To decrease medication errors it is important to implement more staff during medication rounds, thus giving nurses additional time to concentrate and assure that the correct medication and dose is being given to the right patient ( ). The 6 medication rights are important to implement into every workplace as it decreases the chances of administrating medication to the wrong patients ( ). The medication right include; ______________________________________________________________ ( ). Medication errors have important implications for patient safety and in improving clinical practice errors to prevent any adverse events (

HCS Med 360 is a software solution used to support medication reconciliation. This technology allows the consulting pharmacists to rapidly query over a dozen national databases and see the patient's prescription fill history as well as gaps in the fill history. Experience to date shows that this robust system captures all prescription medications in Hawai‘i except those filled at Kaiser or the VA and those paid 100% self pay. The consulting pharmacist then completes the reconciliation process and produces a current medication list, including OTC medications, herbals, and supplements. The fill history and complete medication list are being built so that this information can be included in the patient's HHIE Community Health Record. The HHIE

Medication history is nothing more than a detailed, accurate and complete account of all prescribed and non-prescribed medications a patient might have taken or is presently taking upon to the arrival to the acute care institution. One of the challenges in the process of completing the medication history, is the ability to obtain pertinent and valuable information in a timely manner as this provides valuable insight in guiding appropriate treatment and care during the emergency situation. Doing so in an effective manner can help prevent medication errors and consequent risks to patients. Another challenge is the lack of technology integration across the national healthcare system which poses significant difficulties in obtaining accurate information from a variety of sources in a timely manner. Regulatory and accreditation bodies have made it a requirement that healthcare systems focus on improving the medication reconciliation across the continuum of

In today’s current fast-paced and demanding field of heath care, medication administration has become complex and time-consuming task. Approximately one-third of the nurses’ time is used in medication administration. There is much potential for error because of the complexity of the medication administration process. Since nurses are the last ones to actually administer the medication to the patient therefore they become responsible for medication administration errors (MAE). Reasons for MAE may include individual factors, organizational factors or system factors. This paper will discuss the root causes analysis of MAE and strategies to prevent them.

Patients are the focus and center of care. When we collaborate as a team to provide and care for the patient, all needs of that patient should be met when the patient discharges from the hospital. “Medication reconciliation is an achievable step in preventing some medication discrepancies from resulting in actual medication errors and patient harm” (Keeys, 2014).

After the interview with my nurse manager, I came up with the PICO question which states: “Does the computerized physician order entry (CPOE) system reduce the number of medication errors compared to the common paper system being used today?” This question is important and I selected it because the population that the Belvoir Community hospital serves includes army officers of all ages both active and retired including their spouses and children. This group includes two sub groups of highly vulnerable persons which include the very young and the very old, who have a high-risk effect for medication errors because the potential adverse drug event is three times greater than an adult hospitalized patient (Levine et al., 2001). CPOE is not a panacea, but it does represent an effective tool for bringing real-time, evidence-based decision support to physicians. Nurses are the last defense level of protection against medication errors, and are solely responsible for the dispensing, administering, and monitoring of medications. In healthcare, computers can be used to help facilitate clear and accurate communication between health care professionals. When using a CPOE system it allows physicians to type in prescriptions right into the device or computer which significantly lessens any mistakes that can occur when

According to the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, “Medication reconciliation is the process of creating the most accurate list possible of all medications a patient is taking — including drug name, dosage, frequency, and route — and comparing that list against the physician’s admission, transfer, and/or discharge orders” (Institute For Healthcare Improvement, n.d). This process includes three steps: collecting the medication history, ensuring that the medications and dosages are appropriate for the patient, and documenting the changes in the orders. This occurs when the patient is admitted, transferred and discharged from the hospital (Institute for Healthcare Improvement, 2011). The purpose is to avoid any duplications, incorrect

Approximately "60% of medication reconciliation errors occur when patients are admitted, transferred to another unit, or discharged." (Haynes, 2007). Medication reconciliation

Medication error is any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate use or patient harm while the medication is in the control of the health care professional, patient, or consumer. Unfortunately, among the 98,000 deaths that occur every year from medical errors in the U.S hospitals, a significant number of those deaths are associated with medication errors. This is a most significant issue we see today affecting patient safety and in turn costs in hospitals very often, poses dangerous consequences to the patients.