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Medication List (medication + list)
Selected AbstractsDo medical courses adequately prepare interns for safe and effective prescribing in New South Wales public hospitals?INTERNAL MEDICINE JOURNAL, Issue 7 2009S. N. Hilmer Abstract Aims: To assess ability of interns immediately before starting clinical practice in New South Wales (NSW) teaching hospitals to prescribe medications safely and appropriately and to describe their impressions of the adequacy of their clinical pharmacology training in medical school. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed on all interns (n= 191) who attended intern orientation programmes at four NSW hospitals in January 2008. A clinical case scenario that tested prescribing ability and a survey investigating impressions of clinical pharmacology training in medical school were administered to the interns in exam format. Outcome measures were: (i) ability to prescribe medications safely and appropriately for the clinical case scenario and (ii) interns' impressions of their training in clinical pharmacology at medical school. Results: No intern completed all prescribing tasks correctly. No intern charted the patient's usual medications on admission completely correctly, only six wrote an accurate discharge medication list, and none wrote both an accurate discharge medication list and a legal Schedule 8 discharge script. None of the respondents strongly agreed that they felt adequately trained to prescribe medications in their intern year and 84% would have liked to have more training in pharmacology as medical students. Conclusions: Interns about to commence clinical practice in NSW teaching hospitals demonstrated significant deficits in prescribing of regular medications, initiation of new therapies, prescribing of discharge medications, and particularly prescribing of Schedule 8 medications. Most interns recognized these deficits and would have liked more clinical pharmacology training at medical school. [source] Randomized Trial to Improve Prescribing Safety in Ambulatory Elderly PatientsJOURNAL OF AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY, Issue 7 2007Marsha A. Raebel PharmD OBJECTIVES: To determine whether a computerized tool that alerted pharmacists when patients aged 65 and older were newly prescribed potentially inappropriate medications was effective in decreasing the proportion of patients dispensed these medications. DESIGN: Prospective, randomized trial. SETTING: U.S. health maintenance organization. PARTICIPANTS: All 59,680 health plan members aged 65 and older were randomized to intervention (n=29,840) or usual care (n=29,840). Pharmacists received alerts on all patients randomized to intervention who were newly prescribed a targeted medication. INTERVENTION: Prescription and age information were linked to alert pharmacists when a patient aged 65 and older was newly prescribed one of 11 medications that are potentially inappropriate in older people. MEASUREMENTS: Physicians and pharmacists collaborated to develop the targeted medication list, indications for medication use for which an intervention should occur, intervention guidelines and scripts, and to implement the intervention. RESULTS: Over the 1-year study, 543 (1.8%) intervention group patients aged 65 and older were newly dispensed prescriptions for targeted medications, compared with 644 (2.2%) usual care group patients (P=.002). For medication use indications in which an intervention should occur, dispensings of amitriptyline (P<.001) and diazepam (P=.02) were reduced. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated the effectiveness of a computerized pharmacy alert system plus collaboration between healthcare professionals in decreasing potentially inappropriate medication dispensings in elderly patients. Coupling data available from information systems with the knowledge and skills of physicians and pharmacists can improve prescribing safety in patients aged 65 and older. [source] The use of nationwide on-line prescription records improves the drug history in hospitalized patientsBRITISH JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY, Issue 2 2008Bente Glintborg What is already known about this subject ,,Structured medication interviews improve the medication history upon hospitalization ,,Pharmacy records are valid lists of the prescribed medications available to individual patients ,,In Denmark, treating doctors now have access to their patients' pharmacy records through a real-time online electronic database What this study adds ,,Omission errors are frequent among hospitalized patients despite structured drug interviews and home visits ,,Pharmacy records may be used to minimize patients' recall bias and improve the medication lists Background Structured medication interviews improve the medication history in hospitalized patients. In Denmark, a nationwide electronic version of individual pharmacy records (PR) has recently been introduced. Use of these records could improve the medication lists in hospitalized patients. Methods We prospectively included 500 patients admitted to an acute medical department. In individual patients, the PR was compared with (i) the medication list written in the patient chart and (ii) drug information provided by the patient during a structured drug interview upon admission and during a home visit after discharge. Results Median patient age was 72 years. Upon admission, patients reported using 1958 prescription-only medications (POM) (median four drugs per patient, range 0,14), of which 114 (6%) were not registered in PR. In PR, 1153 POM (median one per patient, range 0,11) were registered during the month preceding admission. The patients did not report 309 (27%) of these upon admission. Home visits were performed in a subgroup of 115 patients. During home visits, 18% of POM registered in PR during the preceding month were not reported. Drug type was predictive of reporting irrespective of patient sex or age. Cardiovascular drugs were reported most and dermatologicals were reported less frequently. Underreporting might be due to recall bias, non-adherence or discontinuation of drugs. Conclusions Omission errors are frequent despite structured medication interviews. Pharmacy records or medication lists from all treating doctors must be included in medication reviews in order to reduce recall bias. [source] Interventions to Improve Transitional Care Between Nursing Homes and Hospitals: A Systematic ReviewJOURNAL OF AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY, Issue 4 2010Michael A. LaMantia MD Transitions between healthcare settings are associated with errors in communication of information and treatment plans for frail older patients, but strategies to improve transitional care are lacking. A systematic review was conducted to identify and evaluate interventions to improve communication of accurate and appropriate medication lists and advance directives for elderly patients who transition between nursing homes and hospitals. MEDLINE, ISI Web, and EBSCO Host (from inception to June 2008) were searched for original, English-language research articles reporting interventions to improve communication of medication lists and advance directives. Five studies ultimately met all inclusion criteria. Two described interventions that enhanced transmission of advance directives, two described interventions that improved communication of medication lists, and one intervention addressed both goals. One study was a randomized controlled trial, whereas the remaining studies used historical or no controls. Study results indicate that a standardized patient transfer form may assist with the communication of advance directives and medication lists and that pharmacist-led review of medication lists may help identify omitted or indicated medications on transfer. Although preliminary evidence supports adoption of these methods to improve transitions between nursing home and hospital, further research is needed to define target populations and outcomes measures for high-quality transitional care. [source] The use of nationwide on-line prescription records improves the drug history in hospitalized patientsBRITISH JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY, Issue 2 2008Bente Glintborg What is already known about this subject ,,Structured medication interviews improve the medication history upon hospitalization ,,Pharmacy records are valid lists of the prescribed medications available to individual patients ,,In Denmark, treating doctors now have access to their patients' pharmacy records through a real-time online electronic database What this study adds ,,Omission errors are frequent among hospitalized patients despite structured drug interviews and home visits ,,Pharmacy records may be used to minimize patients' recall bias and improve the medication lists Background Structured medication interviews improve the medication history in hospitalized patients. In Denmark, a nationwide electronic version of individual pharmacy records (PR) has recently been introduced. Use of these records could improve the medication lists in hospitalized patients. Methods We prospectively included 500 patients admitted to an acute medical department. In individual patients, the PR was compared with (i) the medication list written in the patient chart and (ii) drug information provided by the patient during a structured drug interview upon admission and during a home visit after discharge. Results Median patient age was 72 years. Upon admission, patients reported using 1958 prescription-only medications (POM) (median four drugs per patient, range 0,14), of which 114 (6%) were not registered in PR. In PR, 1153 POM (median one per patient, range 0,11) were registered during the month preceding admission. The patients did not report 309 (27%) of these upon admission. Home visits were performed in a subgroup of 115 patients. During home visits, 18% of POM registered in PR during the preceding month were not reported. Drug type was predictive of reporting irrespective of patient sex or age. Cardiovascular drugs were reported most and dermatologicals were reported less frequently. Underreporting might be due to recall bias, non-adherence or discontinuation of drugs. Conclusions Omission errors are frequent despite structured medication interviews. Pharmacy records or medication lists from all treating doctors must be included in medication reviews in order to reduce recall bias. [source] | ||||||||||