BACKGROUND: In 2005, The Joint Commission included medication reconciliation as a National Patient Safety Goal to reduce medication errors related to omissions, duplications and interactions. Hospitals continue to struggle to implement successful programmes that meet these objectives.
METHODS: The authors used improvement methods and reliability principles to develop and implement a process for medication reconciliation completion at admission at a large, paediatric medical centre. Medication reconciliation was defined as recording a complete and accurate list of each patient's medications within 20 min of admission by the nurse and reconciliation of those medications within 24 h of admission by the physician. Interventions focused on five main areas: leadership and support from senior physicians and nurses to sustain a culture of safety; simplification and standardisation of the electronic medication reconciliation application; clarifying roles and responsibilities; creating a highly reliable and visible system; and sustainability.
RESULTS: At baseline, only 62% of patients had their medications reconciled within 24 h of admission. Over a 9-month period, ≥90% medication reconciliation was achieved within 24 h of admission. These results have been sustained for 27 months.
CONCLUSIONS: Through the use of improvement methods and reliability science, a sustainable process for medical reconciliation completion at admission was successfully achieved at a large, busy academic children's hospital.
}, year = {2011}, journal = {BMJ Qual Saf}, volume = {20}, pages = {372-80}, month = {04/2011}, issn = {2044-5423}, doi = {10.1136/bmjqs.2010.047845}, language = {eng}, }