Prescribing and medication communication on the post-take ward round

Brooke Myers; Charles Mitchell; Jenny A Whitty; Peter Donovan; Ian Coombes

doi:10.1111/imj.13280

Prescribing and medication communication on the post-take ward round

Intern Med J. 2017 Apr;47(4):454-457. doi: 10.1111/imj.13280.

Authors

Brooke Myers^{1

2

3}, Charles Mitchell⁴, Jenny A Whitty², Peter Donovan^{1

5}, Ian Coombes^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
² School of Pharmacy, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
³ Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.
⁴ Centre for Safe and Effective Prescribing, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
⁵ School of Medicine, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

PMID: 28401716
DOI: 10.1111/imj.13280

Abstract

Gaps in communication between medical officers and poor planning are associated with prescribing errors and may result in patient harm. This study describes medication communication on post-take ward rounds (PTWR). Over 6 weeks on 24 PTWR, 130 patients, prescribed 1244 medications, were observed. Of these, 811 (65%) medications were discussed, with 249 discussions (relating to 126 medications) being 'in-depth'. Of 191 planned medication-related actions, 38 (20%) were not implemented by the end of the PTWR and 21 (11%) by time of discharge from hospital. This study suggests that the level of medication communication and subsequent actions are suboptimal. Processes to improve this situation should be explored.

Keywords: communication; handover; hospital; patient safety; prescribing; ward round.

MeSH terms

Aged
Attitude of Health Personnel
Australia / epidemiology
Checklist
Communication
Humans
Information Dissemination
Medication Errors / prevention & control
Medication Errors / statistics & numerical data*
Medication Therapy Management / standards*
Patient Care Team / standards*
Patient Safety