Medication Reconciliation Process



Medication Reconciliation Process

In an era of rapid changes in the delivery of health care, the profession pharmaceutical has been the target of significant growth and development. The pharmaceuticals are exclusively formed in clinical therapy and, due to their capabilities, provide a better understanding of the drugs to patients, doctors and other members of the healthcare team. The high cost of medicines and technology related to drugs are combined with the effect of medication and services of pharmacists about the outcomes of care and on patient safety. As a result, they make imperative that pharmacists' services are performed at the highest level.

Current Problem/ Gap

Medication reconciliation has been a challenging process in the digital environment and has been targeted for redesign by many health care agencies. Medication reconciliation is a federal mandate that is intended to keep a patient's list of medications current as they transition across care settings. Maintaining a list of medications can be a confusing tangle of product names (brand vs generic), provider responsibility (Which provider prescribed this, but which provider is adjusting the dosages?), and efficiency quicksand (How do we expedite the process for our complex patients who seem to define the term polypharmacy?) that is often not improved by systems that may have clunky interfaces or functional features. EHRs (Electronic Health Record) unprecedented health records of the user to provide efficient update, and access, including medical records, outpatient medical history, and a variety of image information related to medication. The majority of individual users can be a platform for their own health data, including daily physiological data, sports and fitness information, medication information, as well as its related insurance information, and more directly manage and update. The platform will provide common patients, medical expert's advice. And provide advice for healthy life for the user to provide reliable protection (McDonald, et. al., 1999).

Medication reconciliation is the process of comparing a patient's medication orders to all of the medications that the patient has been taking. This reconciliation is done to avoid medication errors such as omissions, duplications, dosing errors, or drug interactions. It should be done at every transition of care in which new medications are ordered or existing orders are rewritten.

Transitions in care include changes in setting, service, practitioner, or level of care. This process comprises five steps: (1)make clinical decisions based on the comparison; (2)compare the medications on the two lists; (3)develop a list of medications to be prescribed; (4)develop a list of current medications; and (5) communicate the new list to appropriate caregivers and to the patient.

The steps in medication reconciliation are seemingly straightforward. For a newly hospitalized patient, the steps include obtaining and verifying the patient's medication history, documenting the patient's medication history, writing orders for the hospital medication regimen, and creating a medication administration record. At discharge, the steps include determining the post discharge medication regimen, developing discharge instructions for the patient for home medications, educating the patient, and transmitting the medication list to the follow-up ...