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DENVER — Implementation of a standardized medication reconciliation training regimen may prevent prescribing errors and adverse effects from an inaccurate medication list, according to research presented at the 2019 American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA) Annual Meeting, held May 18 to 22, 2019 in Denver, CO.
A group of physician assistant student researchers from the University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center, Multidisciplinary Clinic implemented a patient medication interview to ensure that information on all patient medications is captured at each office visit in the clinic. In a preimplementation review, the research team had identified that medical record technicians did not receive adequate training in conducting medication reconciliation and/or may have been unfamiliar with the patient’s electronic medical record. The team also found that during visits, patients may be unable to recall the medications they currently take and/or they do not bring medications or an updated list to share with the technician.
Interviews were categorized as thorough (technician addressed every medication), partial (technician addressed single medications or asked for specific medication changes), or none (technician did not address medications in any way). Preimplementation results found that 50% of technicians were thorough in asking questions pertaining to medication use, 35.3% conducted a partial interview, and 14.7% did not address medication use in any way. Implementing a standarized training regimen that used a script and a listing of common medications increased thorough medication reconciliation to 100% and eliminated any partial or absent questioning.
“This enhancement will provide a more thorough medication review,” the authors concluded. “It can serve as a starting ground for future studies to compare this standard interview to other methods of collecting patient medication information, and to study the accuracy of the resulting list.”
Reference
Wade D, Stayer L, Wells E, Mullins D, Schuer K. Standardization of the medication reconcilliation interview. Presentation at: The American Academy of Physician Assistants Annual Meeting; May 18-22, 2019; Denver, CO. Poster 148.
This article originally appeared on Clinical Advisor
