Medication Reconciliation in Primary Care Setting

摘要

Polypharmacy entails the use of multiple drugs taken at the same time to manage the various comorbidities common among elderly patients. Polypharmacy is associated with increased health care spending due to drug duplication, adverse drug events, and medication noncompliance. Medication reconciliation has been shown to reduce the problems seen with polypharmacy. The purpose of this project was to review published evidence to develop a staff education program on medication reconciliation in a primary care setting and determine the efficacy of the program in relation to staff confidence and knowledge levels concerning medication reconciliation. The project was guided by Nola Pender's health promotion model. The education program was modeled after a medical staff education program on medication reconciliation and included a medication assessment questionnaire and its use when evaluating a patient's medications. The pretest and posttest questionnaire obtained from the education materials was administered to clinical staff at the practice site before and after presenting the education material. Data were analyzed for statistical changes after the education program using a t test. Results showed that participants increased their confidence and knowledge of medication reconciliation from an average score of 2.19 (SD 0.20) before the education to 4.37 (SD 0.12) (p < 0.001) on a 5-point confidence scale after the education. This staff education program will promote positive social change by increasing nurses' knowledge and confidence of medication reconciliation and potentially reducing the incidence of polypharmacy and its negative effects among the elderly patients.