Patient Safety…. Don’t get sick in July…..

What Can I do as a Medical Student?

What you can do

0Be a patient advocate0Pay attention0Ask questions

Medication Reconciliation

0Take this on this year…..

Reconciliation?Bringing together, making “right”

What is medication reconciliation?

0 "the process of comparing a patient's medication orders to all of the medications that the patient has been taking. “

Why?

0Avoid medication errors:0 Omissions0 Duplications0 Dosing errors0 Drug interactions

When?

0 Every transition of care in which new medications are ordered or existing orders are rewritten.

0 Transitions in care:0 Changes in setting, service, practitioner or level of care0 Patient moves from one unit to another0 Patient moves from one service to another0 Patient is admitted to the hospital0 Patient is discharged from the hospital0 Patient enters or leaves rehab, assisted living, or nursing home0 Patient changes physicians0 Patient sees new physician (subspecialist) in consultation

5 Steps:

0Develop a list of current medications0Develop a list of medications to be prescribed0Compare the medications on the two lists0Make clinical decisions based on the comparison0Communicate the new list to appropriate caregivers

and to the patient.

Your part…

0Review medication profile with the patient to assure it is correct and up-to-date

0Discontinue all non-active medications 0Renew all expired medications0Prescribe new medications not on the medication

profile including OTC, herbal, and traditional medications

0All prescriptions will contain the indication for prescribing (to address health literacy)

Next part…

0Patient needs to receive a copy of the list:0 In real words0 No abbreviations0 Think about health literacy 0 Write out indication for each medication0 Include in the medical record: At UNC, help to update

the medication list in WebCis….

When can you help?

0At admission:

0 Pharmacists will be in ED to help with obtaining accurate medication lists on patients being admitted: Emergency Department Pharmacy Technician Team

07 am-10 pm Mon-Friday09 am- 5 pm Saturday, Sunday, holidays0Contact information on handouts and on website ….

At Discharge

0 Students often initiate creation of the discharge summary0 Medication Reconciliation crucial!

0 Go through home medications (use information obtained from ED team, yourself, family, patient, facility)

0 Go through current medications in hospital0 Justify use of each medication0 Make sure no duplications0 Use Generic names!!!0 Update medication list in WebCis0 Specify what changes were made and why!

Patient Safety….

0What can you do? Take this on, improve quality of care, and ….

And…0Become the MVS (Most Valuable Student) for the

team!