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Objectives: The purpose of this study is to compare medication history services between a pharmacy technician and several emergency department (ED) nurses. It is hypothesized that the accuracy of the obtained information from the pharmacy technician will be improved compared to nurses, resulting in a cleaner and safer patient profile, with fewer medication errors.
Study Design: A quality improvement study using a retrospective cohort design.
Methods: Inclusion criteria consists of patients who are: at least 18 years of age, taking at least four home medications, admitted as an inpatient from the ED to an internal medicine floor, and remained hospitalized for at least 24 hours. A medication history questionnaire template and common medication list was created for use by the technician. Data was collected before implementing technician services from July 5, 2015 to August 25, 2015 and after technician service implementation from October 5, 2015 to November 25, 2015.
Results: A total of 100 patients’ medication histories will be analyzed. Of the 20 histories reviewed thus far, the pharmacy technician has outperformed the nurses by creating less medication reconciliation errors in three of the following four categories: wrong/missing drug, wrong/missing strength, wrong/missing frequency, and inpatient transfer discrepancies. A total of 711 patients’ medication histories were obtained from the technician within two months. His interventions were categorized into one of the following groups: medications added, medications discontinued, or medication clarification.
Conclusions: Each day, the technician saw an average of 20 patients and recorded roughly 20 interventions. An estimated amount of $76 per patient intervention projects to an annual cost savings of $395,200. The results of this study will assist in justification of hiring additional pharmacy personnel in the ED.