Transitions from one care setting to another is a well known risk factor for medication
errors [
[1]
]. Inaccurate or delayed information transfer between settings could lead to serious
harm to patients. Coleman et al. reported more readmissions in patients with incomplete
medication lists versus patients with an accurate and complete list (14.3% versus
6.1%) [
[2]
]. In order to improve the transfer of medication related information, a guideline
was drafted by the Dutch healthcare inspectorate, similar to guidelines that have
been published internationally [
3
,
4
,
5
]. The aim of this study was to evaluate the adherence to the guideline for medication
related information in discharge letters. Secondary outcomes were determinants associated
with completeness of discharge letters and timeliness of sending discharge letters
to primary care.To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to European Journal of Internal MedicineAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Frequency, type and clinical importance of medication history errors at admission to hospital: a systematic review.CMAJ. 2005; 173: 510-515
- Posthospital medication discrepancies: prevalence and contributing factors.Arch Intern Med. 2005; 165: 1842-1847
- Policy document: transfer of information on medication in the continuum of care [in Dutch].(Available at:) (Accessed July 4, 2016)
- Guiding principles to achieve continuity in medication management.(Available at:) (Accessed July 4, 2016)
- How-to guide: prevent adverse drug events by implementing medication reconciliation. Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Cambridge, MA2011 (Available at) (Accessed July 4, 2016)
- Effect of medication reconciliation on medication costs after hospital discharge in relation to hospital pharmacy labor costs.Ann Pharmacother. 2012; 46: 329-338
- Adherence to UK national guideline for discharge information: an audit in primary care.Br J Clin Pharmacol. 2014; 78: 1453-1464
- Transition from hospital to primary care: an audit of discharge summary - medication changes and follow-up expectations.Intern Med J. 2014; 44: 1124-1127
- The effect of the COACH program (Continuity Of Appropriate pharmacotherapy, patient Counselling and information transfer in Healthcare) on readmission rates in a multicultural population of internal medicine patients.BMC Health Serv Res. 2010; 10: 39
- Reconcilable differences: correcting medication errors at hospital admission and discharge.Qual Saf Health Care. 2006; 15: 122-126
Article info
Publication history
Published online: October 04, 2017
Accepted:
September 11,
2017
Received:
September 7,
2017
Identification
Copyright
© 2017 European Federation of Internal Medicine. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
