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. 2014 Dec 22;9(12):e115491.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0115491. eCollection 2014.

Medication reconciliation in patients hospitalized in a cardiology unit

Gabriella Fernandes Magalhães  1 , Gláucia Noblat de Carvalho Santos  2 , Mário Borges Rosa  3 , Lúcia de Araújo Costa Beisl Noblat  4
Affiliations

Medication reconciliation in patients hospitalized in a cardiology unit

Gabriella Fernandes Magalhães et al. PLoS One. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Objectives: To compare drugs prescribed on hospital admission with the list of drugs taken prior to admission for adult patients admitted to a cardiology unit and to identify the role of a pharmacist in identifying and resolving medication discrepancies.

Method: This study was conducted in a 300 bed university hospital in Brazil. Clinical pharmacists taking medication histories and reconciling medications prescribed on admission with a list of drugs used prior to admission. Discrepancies were classified as justified (e.g., based on the pharmacotherapeutic guidelines of the hospital studied) or unintentional. Treatments were reviewed within 48 hours following hospitalization. Unintentional discrepancies were further classified according to the categorization of medication error severity. Pharmacists verbally contacted the prescriber to recommend actions to resolve the discrepancies.

Results: A total of 181 discrepancies were found in 50 patients (86%). Of these discrepancies, 149 (82.3%) were justified changes to the patient's home medication regimen; however, 32 (17.7%) discrepancies found in 24 patients were unintentional. Pharmacists made 31 interventions and 23 (74.2%) were accepted. Among unintentional discrepancies, the most common was a different medication dose on admission (42%). Of the unintentional discrepancies 13 (40.6%) were classified as error without harm, 11 (34.4%) were classified as error without harm but which could affect the patient and require monitoring, 3 (9.4%) as errors could have resulted in harm and 5 (15.6%) were classified as circumstances or events that have the capacity to cause harm.

Conclusion: The results revealed a high number of unintentional discrepancies and the pharmacist can play an important role by intervening and correcting medication errors at a hospital cardiology unit.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Summary of patient recruitment and enrollment.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Unintentional discrepancies.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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