Multidose drug dispensing and discrepancies between medication records

作者:Wekre Liv Johanne; Spigset Olav; Sletvold Olav; Sund Janne Kutschera; Grimsmo Anders
来源:Quality and Safety in Health Care, 2010, 19(5): e42.
DOI:10.1136/qshc.2009.038745

摘要

Background The objective of this study was to investigate whether implementation of multidose drug dispensing (MDD) for elderly outpatients is associated with a change in the number of discrepancies in the medication record at the general practitioners (GPs) and at the community home-care services.
Methods A controlled follow-up study with paired design of patients' medication records was performed during implementation of MDD. Medication records from the home care units and from the GPs were reviewed, and the discrepancies were noted. The discrepancies were rated into four classes based upon the potential harm, and a risk score system was applied, giving the potentially most harmful discrepancies the highest score.
Results Medication records from 59 patients with a mean age of 80 years were included. The number of discrepancies was reduced from 203 to 133 (p<0.001), and the total risk score decreased from 308 to 181 (p<0.001) after the implementation of MDD. For both drugs subject to MDD and drugs not suitable for MDD, the reductions in discrepancies were significant (39% and 31% reduction respectively).
Conclusions Calculated health risk due to discrepancies between the medication records from the home-care service and from the GPs decreased during the time of implementation of the MDD system. It seems likely that most of the positive effect was caused by the change in routines and enhanced focus on the medication process rather than by MDD per se.

  • 出版日期2010-10