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Pre‐emptive Discharge Prescription‐Processing System
Author(s) -
Masood Noman,
Garrett Timothy,
Sumpter Margaret,
Buchan Dona
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of pharmacy practice and research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.222
H-Index - 22
eISSN - 2055-2335
pISSN - 1445-937X
DOI - 10.1002/j.2055-2335.2006.tb00583.x
Subject(s) - medical prescription , medicine , concordance , pharmacist , patient discharge , emergency medicine , medical emergency , family medicine , pharmacy , medline , nursing , political science , law
Aim To implement and evaluate a pre‐emptive discharge prescription‐processing system. Method Patients on two wards were reviewed in anticipation of their discharge. Medications were prepared in advance of the discharge prescription using a pharmacist‐generated order. Pharmacist‐generated discharge orders were compared and tested for concordance with the final prescription at the time of discharge. Results 260 patients taking 2014 medications were reviewed of which 897 (45%) did not require dispensing (p < 0.05) based on information gathered during pharmacist review. The total estimated cost of items was $10 790.50 while cost for items dispensed was $5818.80—a 46% reduction was achieved (p < 0.05). 154 patients were given printed lists of their medications and 208 consumer medicine information leaflets were supplied. A significant level of concordance was found between pharmacist and doctor‐generated prescriptions. Conclusion A pre‐emptive discharge prescription‐processing system can potentially result in cost and time savings.