Unintentional Medication Discrepancies at Care Transitions Leads to Patient Harm and Increased ED Visits
Ineffective medication reconciliation processes can pose significant risks, particularly in older patients with critical illnesses. Transitions in care continue to be problematic across care settings.
A recent study published in BMC Geriatrics demonstrates “a substantial prevalence of unintentional medication discrepancies among critically ill older adults during care transitions, significantly increasing the risk of ED visits within a month of discharge. The findings highlight the crucial need for systematic identification and management of medication discrepancies throughout the care transition process to enhance patient safety.”
Medication reconciliation failure can harm patients, leading to professional liability actions, as illustrated in our Case Study, Failure of Medication Reconciliation Process.
For more information, review our practice tip, Medication Safety in the Office Practice.
This article falls under Clinical/Patient Safety in the Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) risk domains.
Risks associated with the delivery of care to patients, residents and other health care customers. Clinical risks include: failure to follow evidence based practice, medication errors, hospital acquired conditions (HAC), serious safety events (SSE), health care equity, opportunities to improve safety within the care environments, and others.