![]() ![]() Medication reconciliation must also occur when the patient is transferred to another facility or discharged home. 2 Upon transfer within the facility, the provider handing off the patient should ensure that the receiving provider has an up-to-date reconciled medication list and understands it. ![]() All medications ordered while the patient is in the hospital should be compared with this list to ensure that there are no duplications, omissions, adjustments, and/or contraindications. The patient and/or the family should be included in obtaining this information. The information should include dosage, route, and frequency. 2Īccording to The Joint Commission standards, medication reconciliation should occur at the time that the patient enters the hospital or is admitted. 2Organizations must also show that the patient has been informed of the importance of maintaining an accurate medication list and a comparison of medications taken with the newly prescribed medications has been made to ensure there are no duplications, omissions, or interactions and that there’s a need to continue current medications. The intent of the goal is for facilities to show a good faith effort in the collection of the patient’s current medication list. In the September 2011 Comprehensive Accreditation Manual for Hospitals Update 2, medication reconciliation was changed to the third National Patient Safety Goal. In 2009, The Joint Commission realized the difficulties that many organizations were experiencing and stopped surveying for compliance. Many hospitals struggled with implementation of and compliance with this goal. Medication reconciliation was designed to help bridge this hand-off communication on admission, between transfers in the hospital, and at discharge. 2,3 Any time there’s a hand-off in patient care, there’s an increased risk for a medication error. The goal was designed to promote medication safety, and was originally announced by The Joint Commission in 2004 for survey in 2006. ![]() Medication reconciliation was the eighth National Patient Safety Goal to be implemented by The Joint Commission. 1 Medication reconciliation is a process that addresses the home medication list, but isn’t a complete medication history.Īlthough many facilities have struggled to implement medication reconciliation, it can be achieved with an interdisciplinary approach that includes patient education. In the United States, medication errors harm an estimated 1.5 million people and kill several thousand each year, costing the nation at least $3.5 million annually. ![]()
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