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Continuity of Medication Supply and Provision of Patient Information on Discharge: Development of a Survey Tool
Author(s) -
Couch Gabrielle,
Quah Sean Minn,
Ng Yee Ching,
McKellar Alice
Publication year - 2007
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.2055-2335.2007.tb00746.x
Subject(s) - medicine , medical prescription , metropolitan area , pharmacy , hospital discharge , phone , family medicine , patient discharge , emergency medicine , medical emergency , continuity of care , medline , health care , nursing , intensive care medicine , linguistics , philosophy , pathology , political science , law , economics , economic growth
Background As described in the national guidelines to achieve continuum of quality use of medicines between hospital and community, hospitals must ensure that continuity of care is not interrupted by the inability of patients to obtain medication on discharge. Aims To develop a survey tool to assess continuity of medication supply and provision of medicines information on discharge. To evaluate these parameters in patients discharged with either discharge medication or prescriptions for dispensing by a community pharmacy. Method Non‐surgical patients aged over 65 years or their carers from one metropolitan teaching hospital and 2 rural hospitals were interviewed by phone 5 to 7 days post‐discharge. 2 interview phases (n = 229) using different interviewers and the same survey tool were conducted in 2005 and 2006. Results 8/227 patients (3%) ran out and missed doses of medication (7 patients 1 day, 1 patient 4 days), with no differences detected between patients receiving discharge prescriptions or discharge medication. Providing medication or prescriptions appeared to influence the timing of doctor visits (average 3 days for metropolitan, 7 to 11 days for rural). 53% of metropolitan doctor visits were for prescriptions only. 90% of rural patients obtained medication on the day of discharge or the day after. 53% of respondents recalled receiving a medication list. 4% did not know the names of their medication nor when to take them; 17% knew some details but not all. Conclusion The survey tool appears to provide consistent data over multiple sites and multiple interviewers. The risk of running out of medication in rural areas would be higher if discharge medications replaced prescriptions due to difficulties accessing doctors. Strategies identified to improve discharge processes include clinical pharmacy checks of discharge prescriptions and more flexibility in supply quantities.