SHM Converge Scientific Abstract ePoster Gallery-Improving Home Medication Histories at Hospital Admission

Pdf Summary

This project aimed to improve the accuracy and completeness of home medication histories for patients admitted to Duke Raleigh Hospital from the emergency department. Accurate medication histories are essential to prevent medication errors, toxicity, or withdrawal during hospitalization, but clinicians often have limited time to gather them thoroughly.<br /><br />To address this, the team created a standardized work process for pharmacy technicians to obtain medication histories. The process was developed through collaboration among Hospital Medicine, Pharmacy, and Performance Services, and included a step-by-step protocol for verifying home medications with pharmacies, documenting doses and administration details, and communicating updates to the admitting provider. Technicians were trained, observed, and their workflow was refined before wider implementation. An online teaching module was also created to support ongoing training.<br /><br />Results showed improvement after implementation. In the pre-intervention period, 47.6% of reviewed admissions had a complete medication history, compared with 71.7% after standard work was introduced. Medication history errors also decreased from 140 to 93, with errors per patient dropping from 1.67 to 0.82.<br /><br />The authors concluded that trained pharmacy technicians using a standardized process can provide more complete and accurate medication histories for ED admissions. They believe this model can be expanded to other admission types, such as transfers from outside facilities and surgical admissions. Future work will evaluate whether this improves patient safety and admission efficiency.

Asset Subtitle

Eric Chu

Meta Tag

Author List Aubra Adams, Bonnie Bass, Eric Chu, Justin Jones, Vicki Williams, Windellina Thrane, Zahra Mahbooba

Category Innovations

Concept Home Medication History

Concept Patient Safety

Concept Medication-Related Harm

Concept Medication Reconciliation

Concept Pharmacy Technician

Distinguished Non-Finalist

Presenter Organization Duke Raleigh Hospital

Presenting Author Eric Chu

Track Transitions of Care

Keywords

medication history

pharmacy technicians

patient safety

hospital admissions

emergency department

medication errors

standardized workflow

Duke Raleigh Hospital

medication reconciliation

healthcare quality improvement

Home Medication History

Patient Safety

Medication-Related Harm

Medication Reconciliation

Pharmacy Technician