Practice-enhancing publications about the medication-use process in 2018

Abstract

Purpose: This article identifies, prioritizes, and summarizes published literature on the medication-use process (MUP) from calendar year 2018 that can impact health-system pharmacy daily practice. The MUP is the foundational system that provides the framework for safe medication utilization within the healthcare environment. The MUP is defined in this article as having the following steps: prescribing/transcribing, dispensing, administration, and monitoring. Articles that evaluated one of the steps were gauged for their usefulness toward daily practice change.

Summary: A PubMed search was conducted in February 2019 for articles published in calendar year 2018 using targeted Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) keywords, targeted non-MeSH keywords, and the table of contents of selected pharmacy journals, providing a total of 43,977 articles. A thorough review identified 62 potentially significant articles: 9 for prescribing/transcribing, 12 for dispensing, 13 for administration, and 28 for monitoring. Ranking of the articles for importance by peers led to the selection of key articles from each category. The highest-ranked articles are briefly summarized, with a mention of why they are important within health-system pharmacy. The other articles are listed for further review and evaluation.

Conclusion: It is important to routinely review the published literature and to incorporate significant findings into daily practice. This article assists in identifying and summarizing recent impactful contributions to the MUP literature. Health-system pharmacists have an active role in improving the MUP in their institution, and awareness of significant published studies can assist in changing practice at the institutional level.

Keywords: bar-coded medication administration; computerized prescriber order entry; dispensing; medication reconciliation; medication use process; smart pumps.